


A Fool's Puzzle

by Alecto



Series: tumblr ficlets [22]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Barebacking, Body Worship, Complicated Relationships, Developing Relationship, Emotional Constipation, Explicit Sexual Content, First Kiss, First Time, Frottage, Heavy Drinking, M/M, Magical Realism, Magical Tattoos, Minor Mutou Yuugi/Yami Yuugi, Not Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions Compliant, Oral Sex, Post-Canon, Prompt Fic, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:55:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23464288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alecto/pseuds/Alecto
Summary: Dialogue prompt: "I may be an idiot, but I'm not stupid."Roughly 86% of the world's population never got a single soulmark over the course of their lives. This is one of the rare instances where Kaiba wished he was more like most people.
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto
Series: tumblr ficlets [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/48708
Comments: 77
Kudos: 305





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 合縁奇縁 （あいえんきえん） [aienkien]  
> (n) a relationship borne of a twist of fate

The doors flew open with a spectacular bang that would have shaken the walls if not for their sturdy construction.

"You got no right!" A familiar, abrasive voice shouted as an equally familiar and unwelcome figure stormed into Kaiba's office.

Haruhi, Kaiba's secretary, scrambled into the room in Jounouchi's wake. With one last frantic dive, she caught Jounouchi's sleeve and tried to drag or at least slow his advance. Jounouchi shook her grip off and kept moving, resulting in her tripping to the carpet.

"Seto-sama," she wheezed. "I'll call security right away."

Kaiba flicked his gaze between his determined but beleaguered secretary and the angry man now stopped on the other side of his desk. "I'll take care of it," he said, tone brisk and even.

"Seto-sama?"

He quelled her protests and concern with a glower. She sighed before picking herself off the floor, made a beeline for the exit, bowed politely, and then closed the double doors with a soft snick.

Which left Kaiba alone with Jounouchi. Truth be told, the last thing Kaiba wanted was to be in the same room as Jounouchi, and not because the man was currently steaming mad. Yet he caught himself sweeping his eyes up and down the length of Jounouchi's body, wondering where his soulmarks laid and what they showed. He didn't carry them in any visible place like the bands of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that wrapped around Yuugi's biceps. Kaiba's left thigh twinged as he crossed his legs and sat back in his office chair. After fixing a trademark smirk to his face, Kaiba arched an eyebrow at Jounouchi in a silent question.

Jounouchi practically vibrated with rage as he pulled a half-folded sheet of paper from his jacket pocket and slapped it down on Kaiba's desk. The force of his hands rattled the pens in their holder container. "What the hell are you trying to pull?" snarled Jounouchi.

"Can't you read, deadbeat?"

Kaiba glanced down for the briefest moment only to confirm that the sheet was what he suspected it to be. It was indeed a registration form, specifically Jounouchi's, for the next KC-sponsored Duel Monsters tournament scheduled in two months. A large, obnoxious red stamp reading "REJECTED" was plastered across the top of the form. A precaution he had made a week ago in service of not having to see Jounouchi Katsuya again in the near future.

How fabulously that had backfired, he thought to himself sourly.

"I wanna know why!" Jounouchi demanded. "I've got the rankings to qualify. Hell, I've got more than enough."

"It's a private event. The company reserves the right to reject any application it chooses to. It doesn't need to justify the reason," sneered Kaiba.

"Bullshit! This isn't the company's doing. It's you! At least own up to it! It's not like you've never pulled this shit before. You tried to keep me out of Battle City back in the day. One star ranking? A horse's bone? Remember that?" Jounouchi snapped.

Battle City was ages ago. Kaiba had done that for admittedly petty reasons at the time, still stinging from needing Yuugi's help to rescue Mokuba. Now he was doing it out of self-preservation. There was no way he could tell Jounouchi that, though.

Holding Jounouchi's gaze, Kaiba unfolded his legs and slowly rose to his feet. "Fine. I don't want you there. Happy now?"

Jounouchi's shoulders shook as he balled the hands he'd pressed into the surface of Kaiba's desk into two trembling fists. For a moment, Kaiba thought Jounouchi might try to hit him. That was actually the preferable outcome compared to what really happened.

Jounouchi's rage crumbled into anguish and hurt. "Why are you like this? Why of all people on earth are you my— Fuck!"

Jounouchi's words sent a shockwave through Kaiba's body. Wait... That implied that Jounouchi... "You already knew."

"That my so-called soulmate is a fucking asshole? Yeah. I may be an idiot, but I'm not stupid!" Jounouchi looked at him with eyes filled with both anger and grief.

Kaiba gaped at the other man, clutching the edge of his desk for support. It felt like the rug had been pulled from under him. If Jounouchi understood his marks enough to identify Kaiba, then his feelings were much further along than Kaiba had guessed. Kaiba had hoped that keeping distance between them could arrest the process.

Though he didn't trust his voice at the moment, he forced himself to speak. He needed to know. "How long have you known?"

Jounouchi ran a hand through his wild hair, tugging at the strands in frustration before letting go. "Years, Kaiba. Right after Battle City."

The answer knocked the wind from Kaiba's lungs. "But you never said anything."

"What was there to say? If you knew, you obviously didn't want it. And if you didn't, you'd never believe me," Jounouchi said bitterly, but he was studying Kaiba's reactions closely now. He licked his lips nervously, then visibly rallied himself to ask, "When did you figure it out?"

"Last month." The admission left Kaiba's lips before he could stop it.

Jounouchi straightened with a jolt, and his jaw dropped. Even his hurt gave way to shock, a feeling that Kaiba could sympathize with. "But how? Didn't it get uncomfortable? Didn't it keep growing?" he asked softly with brows knitted tight.

Though soulmarks were enigmatic by nature, they were puzzles that demanded recognition and resolution. The sensation of gaining new soulmarks, having them etched into your skin, was a painful one. Many people counted themselves lucky to never get any, and most people didn't. Kaiba always figured he'd be part of the 86% of the population that never met their soulmate, thus avoiding the tedium of the experience. Or he had hoped until that had been dashed in the first year of high school when he began sprouting stark, black marks on his left leg.

"I think the better question is how did you figure it out?" Kaiba still didn't know if he should be stunned or irritated over the fact that Jounouchi had him beat on the magnitude of years. Even if he had been doing his best to ignore them in the vain hope that doing so would make them disappear.

"It took a while, but I got a good picture of what to literally look for by the time you ran off to America," Jounouchi admitted plainly as he shrugged off his jacket.

Then Kaiba's heart rammed up into his throat when Jounouchi reached back and pulled off his shirt in one swift motion. "What are you—"

"It'd be easier to just show you," Jounouchi cut him off before turning his back to Kaiba.

Kaiba's eyes widened as he took in the vivid and colorful soulmarks etched across a sizable portion of Jounouchi's back. When Jounouchi had alluded to a literal picture, he wasn't kidding. The marks reminded Kaiba of the full-back tattoos that old-fashioned yakuza wore so proudly, even the art style was reminiscent of woodblock prints. But the soft, shimmering watercolor of the marks meant they could never be mistaken for mundane tattoos. Unable to stop himself, he stepped out from around his desk to approach Jounouchi for a better look.

The subjects depicted in Jounouchi's soulmarks were straightforward: an armored man on a horse charging into a body of water with a notched arrow aimed at the white fan held by another warrior standing at the helm of a small ship on the other side of the image. It did not escape Kaiba's notice that the bowman sported brown hair and blue eyes, while the opposing warrior had blond tresses sticking out from under his helmet.

Jounouchi kept talking as Kaiba studied the marks. "At first, it was just the outlines of the guys. They were hella hard for me to get a good look at back there. I think the first mark I got was the bow and arrow around the time we first met, but that was the start of our first year, and I met a lotta new people then. Then the rest of the image slowly filled in over the months. No color at first, though. I think I must have gotten the colors when I was unconscious during Battle City. Because we came back to Domino, and boom, there it was. I had a pretty good guess by then, especially when I didn't get any new marks while you were away. The archer's not exactly subtle. So I started digging through art books at the library, thinking maybe I might find more hints. The fan was the key. It's—"

"It depicts a scene from the Battle of Yashima," Kaiba finished, eyes still fixed on the shimmering soulmarks on Jounouchi's skin. His fingers itched to touch them.

"Yeah, from the _Tale of the Heike_. So this battle was supposed to have taken place off the coast of Shikoku in the—"

"The Seto Inland Sea," Kaiba groaned and dragged his hand across his face. Jounouchi was right. He may be an idiot at times, but he wasn't a complete moron. Even Jounouchi would put together the pieces when given such a simple puzzle.

Jounouchi had turned around again and was studying him carefully when he finally dropped his hands to his side. Kaiba jolted, almost jumping back after discovering Jounouchi standing so close and so shirtless.

"Wow, so you knew all that from just one look at mine, but you took how many years to figure out yours?" Jounouchi gaped.

Kaiba bristled and glared. "Mine requires more than a passing glance to solve."

Not to mention, the Battles of Yashima and Dan-no-ura were both pivotal events that changed the course of Japanese history, signaling the decline of the imperial household and the rise of the military shogunate. 

Jounouchi rolled his eyes and crossed his arms across his bare chest. Somehow that didn't make him any less distracting. "Lemme see then."

"Pardon?"

"I showed you mine, so you show me yours."

His breath caught in his throat. "I don't think that'd be wise."

"C'mon, you freaking gave me soulmarks that've tatted me up like some old-school gangster. The least you could do is lemme see yours."

Kaiba hadn't done anything. At least not consciously. Over the course of human history, plenty of people had theorized and philosophized on the nature of soulmarks and how they manifested. Kaiba found most of them utter bull, though. He opened his mouth to argue the point when Jounouchi moved, taking a step closer and causing Kaiba to back up in response. They continued like this until Kaiba collided with his desk. Jounouchi stopped trying to approach at that point, but his gaze remained determined and insistent.

"Lock the doors," Kaiba growled and leaned against his desk.

Without further question, Jounouchi spun, flashing his soulmarks at Kaiba, and jogged toward the office's doors. Kaiba took a deep breath and shucked his pants before he lost his nerves. His left thigh itched once it was exposed to the office's cold air. A quick glance down confirmed that he wasn't about to gain any new marks. Not that he should after solving its damnable riddle.

A purely psychosomatic reaction, but no less nerve-wracking.

Jounouchi gawked when he saw that Kaiba had removed his suit trousers. Then he rallied himself visibly before crossing the room again. Kaiba gripped the edge of his desk, entire body tensing when Jounouchi knelt down to get a better look at the columns of black marks running down his milky skin.

Jounouchi reached out, then caught himself. "Are these words?" he asked.

Kaiba focused on the watercolor shimmer of Jounouchi's marks, seemingly the exact opposite of the inky blackness of his marks that seemed to swallow light like the void between stars, and nodded. "Ink calligraphy."

What he didn't say was that the characters were written in his hand, their style changing over time like he was trying to emulate any number of modern shodo masters. The fact that his marks manifested as long lines of rather small and flowing characters running down the length of his left thigh made them hard to even read from his top-down perspective. It seemed that both he and Jounouchi had theirs in similarly inconvenient places that failed to aid in their comprehension.

"There's so many characters. Do they... Do they wrap all the way around?" Jounouchi's warm breath caressed his bare skin, and Kaiba had to suppress a shiver.

"They do." Another reason it'd proven so challenging to solve the puzzle.

"What do they say?"

Kaiba recited the words from memory. They fell stiltedly on his tongue because the passage itself was awkward, sometimes missing subjects or action verbs. By the third line, Jounouchi gave an incredulous laugh, resting one hand against Kaiba's bare knee. The sound and the touch stunned Kaiba into silence.

"Oh my god, that's totally _Run, Melos!_ " Jounouchi exclaimed, lifting his gaze to beam up at Kaiba.

"How could you possibly know that?"

"We covered it in school, duh! Great Japanese lit and all that junk! You don't remember?"

If history was Jounouchi's weakest subject, then literature had always been Kaiba's. Gozaburo emphasized certain philosophers, thinkers, and military accounts like the _Tale of the Heike_ in Kaiba's early education, but not prose for storytelling's sake. Kaiba himself had similarly neglected that subject, as he saw little value in it. Still, Kaiba had an excellent memory, and he would have remembered the short story if he had read it before last month.

"Oh wait, we covered that during our second year. After Battle City. So you weren't around..."

Jounouchi's palm still rested like a blistering brand on his knee. Kaiba should really shake him off, but he was paralyzed by the irony that hung heavy in the air between them. Jounouchi had solved his marks at the same time that Kaiba missed what he needed to understand his. It felt like some great cosmic joke. Then again, Kaiba would have accepted the conclusion then even less readily than he would now.

"I still don't see how you figured me out from all this, though," Jounouchi muttered, breaking the silence.

Kaiba sucked in a deep breath to calm his racing heart. "Really? An infuriating tale of a man devoted to his sister and able to move a tyrant king through the power of friendship doesn't seem on the nose to you?"

"Ass," snorted Jounouchi with good humor.

Kaiba almost smiled in response. Almost. "It's a book cipher. Once I figured out the source text, I used it to decode the rest of the characters."

"You're not gonna tell me what it actually says, are you?"

"No."

Jounouchi dropped his gaze back to Kaiba's thigh. "Well, they're pretty. I like 'em."

The compliment might have knocked him flat if not for his desk's support. He couldn't help the shiver that ran down his legs. Must be cold from the office AC. He cleared his throat. "Yours are... The composition is well-done."

Jounouchi arched an eyebrow as if to silently ask, "really?"

"And will you put your shirt back on?" Kaiba snapped, now growing increasingly self-conscious without discussions of their soulmarks to distract from the display of naked skin.

They both quickly redressed. Kaiba kept his eyes trained on a painting on his office wall as he pulled on his pants and cinched his belt. As soon as Jounouchi don his shirt again, he stepped toward Kaiba but stopped just out of arm's reach.

"What now?" Jounouchi asked.

Good question. Neither of them was likely to receive any new marks soon. Jounouchi probably already hadn't for years. Which ran counter to why Kaiba banned him from the tournament in the first place. He'd hope to stave off Jounouchi's realization by minimizing contact, but that was all moot point.

Kaiba picked up the rejected form from his desk, and Jounouchi tensed.

"Why don't we start by getting your registration properly processed?"

An olive branch if Jounouchi knew how to read between the lines. And Jounouchi did as he beamed at Kaiba in return. The affectionate smile caused Kaiba's heart to flutter and his marks to itch anew, and he decided they weren't the worst feelings in the world.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 意気投合 （いきとうごう） [ikitougou]   
> (n) a kindred spirit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special shoutout and thanks to Elexica for:  
> 1) helping me figure out how many people can be reasonably employed inside a 40-story skyscraper (we based it off the Salesforce Tower in SF)  
> 2) encouraging and cheerleading, because these additional chapters might not have come to fruition otherwise

As soon as Yuugi stepped into his office, one startling observation leaped out at Kaiba. He stared at the new half-circle band of marks inscribed around Yuugi's bicep.

 _Don't forget,_ read the newest hieroglyphics.

Even so many years later, Kaiba still couldn't shake the unwanted knowledge of an ancient people. No matter how much he wished.

"You have new marks," he said in place of an actual greeting.

Yuugi's baggy, dark-rimmed eyes darted down to his arm. He stared at the marks like he had forgotten they were there. No, it was more like the expression of someone who's woken up from a nightmare only to realize it had all been real.

"I do," Yuugi admitted before crossing the room and dropping into the chair opposite Kaiba's desk.

"I didn't think you could get new ones after he left."

Yuugi sunk deeper into his seat, shrinking in a way he hadn't since he was a teenager. "We were wrong. I had assumed. But we were all just guessing, weren't we? How are soulmarks even supposed to work when you share the same body?"

Kaiba pressed his tented hands to his chin, unable to tear his gaze off the new marks. He should ignore them. They were here to talk business, not catch up. His left thigh itched, and he stomped down the urge to excuse himself and check his marks. He hadn't received any new ones after confirming his suspicions months earlier. But that did mean that the pesky marks had recently been at the forefront of his thoughts more often than he liked.

"You should wear longer sleeves," Kaiba finally advised after several beats of silence. "Rumors will start circulating if the gossip blogs catch sight of those."

Yuugi shrugged. "What's the point? At this rate, my entire body will be marked up before I figure it out. Who could it be if it's not At— _Him_?"

Kaiba finally tore his gaze off the exposed marks and pulled a folder of paperwork from his inbox. "I thought you liked puzzles."

Yuugi's gaze turned downcast. "I don't want to solve this one if he wasn't the answer."

"Suit yourself."

He was glad to put the subject behind him. Playing therapist or, worse, a sympathetic shoulder to cry upon for Yuugi's existential crisis was not on his agenda for today. Too bad Yuugi wasn't prepared to drop it nearly as quickly as he'd hoped. Yuugi's next question caused him to fumble momentarily.

"Do you have any? Soulmarks, I mean."

Kaiba deposited the paperwork on his desk so he wouldn't scatter them. "That's an intensely personal question."

Comparatively few people got soulmarks that it was simpler and often correct to assume people didn't have them until proven otherwise. If they did, you wouldn't know unless they manifested on more regularly visible parts of the body like Yuugi's arms. Kaiba rarely dressed down, so hardly anyone knew about the marks that lined the milky canvas of his thigh.

Yuugi's eyes almost sharpened in their focus. "So, you do have some."

"I said no such thing," he growled.

"No, but you didn't say 'no' when I asked, which you would have if you didn't have them," responded Yuugi confidently. He leaned forward and gripped the edge of Kaiba's desk with white-knuckled fists. "How long have you had them? Did you start getting them recently? Like maybe after our meeting last week—"

Kaiba found himself recoiling. It almost sounded like Yuugi thought _he_ might be his soulmate. Which wasn't possible. And no, Kaiba hadn't received any new marks since that faithful conversation several months ago with Jounouchi.

"Fine, I have marks, but they have nothing to do with you. Whatever is causing you to gain new ones is completely unrelated to me," he barked sternly. "Do I make myself clear?"

Yuugi studied him long and hard. "You know who it is."

Reluctantly, Kaiba nodded. If Yuugi didn't know who, he wasn't keen to admit anything, but he also couldn't let Yuugi believe that he was somehow responsible for the new marks.

"Huh, you figured it out," muttered Yuugi quietly. "But how can you know you're right for sure?"

"I'm sure. We both are." His tone left no room for argument.

Yuugi's eyes widened at the admission. "Wow, Kaiba Seto has a soulmate. If the tabloids ever found out you have some, they'd have a field day."

Kaiba clenched his fist. "No one will ever find your body if you tell another soul."

Undeterred by the threat, Yuugi continued, "Are you going to tell me who she— He— They are?"

Kaiba glared in return. A part of Kaiba was surprised that Yuugi didn't already know. That the conversation thus far hadn't been some roundabout way of mocking or jeering him. Then again, neither of those were in Yuugi's sickeningly magnanimous nature. If Jounouchi had told Yuugi, Yuugi would be congratulating him like it was his nuptials.

While he was glad that Yuugi's curiosity meant that he'd let go of his absurd hypothesis, Kaiba wasn't going to entertain it. So instead, he authoritatively shuffled his papers and declared, "If you don't intend to discuss business, leave. I have better things to do with my time than gossip like schoolgirls."

Yuugi glanced at his new marks again and sighed, his shoulders sagging with the shuddering exhale. "I guess you're right. Maybe I'll ask Bakura-kun to translate these new ones later."

Kaiba bit down on his tongue to keep the translation from spilling off his tongue. He had enough to deal with when it came to his soulmarks before getting involved in whatever mess Yuugi's new ones would bring.

He cleared his throat and passed a page of schedules across the desk. "Good. Let's go over the closed beta proposal for Spherium then."

-x-x-x-

Yuugi's new marks haunted Kaiba for the rest of the day. Well, it was more accurate to say that the dilemma they presented bothered him. Soulmarks didn't get as accurate and disgustingly on-the-nose as Yuugi's. Everyone with eyes could see that they pointed to the once pharaoh. So if Yuugi could get new ones this many years later, how could anyone, Kaiba included, know for sure that his guess was anymore correct.

"Here." A voice and an ice-cold can pressed to his cheek jolted him from his thoughts.

Kaiba turned his glare on Jounouchi, who wore a dopey grin as he dropped the dewy can of beer into his lap. The blond then plopped himself into the empty spot next to Kaiba on the couch. Since they showed each other their soulmarks, Jounouchi had made it a habit to invite Kaiba to his apartment every few weeks. They mainly played Duel Monsters or video games while sniping at each other.

He didn't know what Jounouchi hoped to accomplish, though.

He toyed briefly with the can's tab before cracking it open and taking a sip before responding, "I saw Yuugi today."

"Ahh... You saw his new marks then." Jounouchi folded his feet under himself to sit cross-legged on top of the cushions.

"When did he get them?"

"Last week, Wednesday afternoon. He called me in a panic as soon as it happened."

Kaiba grimaced. Almost every Wednesday, he had weekly progress meetings with Yuugi about Spherium.

Jounouchi continued, "He was fucking devastated. We always thought his soulmate was Atem, so this shouldn't be possible. Unless we were all wrong, and whoever it actually is has finally reappeared in his life."

As Jounouchi leaned forward to place his beer on the coffee table, Kaiba caught an eyeful of his shoulder muscles flexing under the shimmering watercolor of his marks peeking out from under his sleeveless shirt. Kaiba's fingers twitched, and he clenched his hands into tight fists and looked away.

"It could be anyone," he grumbled. "These damn things aren't precise indicators."

Jounouchi chuckled and sank back into the couch cushions. "Pretty much. Which makes it all the more amazing when we do finally figure out who's our soulmate."

The idea of soulmates was conjecture at best. That was the meaning and purpose that many modern cultures had ascribed to the strange marking that riddled some people's skin. Even the common belief that the marks would only appear if you had been near your soulmate was an untested theory. Science had been able to study the biological mechanism by which the marks manifested, but the catalyst of such a reaction still eluded broader scientific understanding.

In the end, there was no way to know with 100% certainty.

Kaiba studied the other man's face in profile. Indeed, would anyone who knew Kaiba and Jounouchi in passing or even casually through the Duel Monsters' pro circuit ever guess that they were "soulmates"? They were approaching the third-month anniversary of that fateful discussion in his office, yet very little had changed between them. Sure, they saw more of each other in the last few weeks compared to the previous year. But their interactions hadn't been overtly hostile for some time now. Kaiba didn't feel anymore drawn to Jounouchi, nor did Jounouchi seem significantly friendlier to him.

It was yet another extension of their detente since they finished high school.

Or maybe nothing had changed between them because they weren't soulmates. Perhaps they had both mistakenly attributed the lack of new marks to one another. Because if Yuugi could be wrong about his connection with Atem, maybe he and Jounouchi were also mistaken.

"Take off your shirt," he ordered.

Jounouchi gave a flabbergasted expression. "What?"

"You heard me."

To his surprise, Jounouchi complied after a nonchalant shrug.

"Turn around," he ordered and placed down his beer.

Again, Jounouchi obeyed without complaint, pivoting to face the opposite direction. Kaiba's eyes fell on the ethereal colors of Jounouchi's marks, and he exhaled. The marks were exactly as he remembered: the same armored warriors posed against the shimmering blue of the Seto Inland Sea. Jounouchi said he hadn't manifested new soulmarks in years, and the pain was impossible to ignore unless one was unconscious.

Without thinking, he pressed his fingers to the flowing currents in the pictorial sea.

Jounouchi jolted and bit back a yelp. "Your hands are ice-cold," he complained.

"It'll warm up soon," he replied.

Now emboldened, Kaiba traced the outlines of the boat and the fan, feeling strong muscles twitch underneath his fingertips. No matter what pretty color pigments laid beneath, it was still skin. Epidermis if you wanted to get technical. It felt like any other patch of skin, warm to the touch, and slightly sweaty as Jounouchi refused to turn on the AC in his apartment for some reason. He didn't feel anything special touching the watercolor marks. Just as there wasn't any unusual sensation when he touched the calligraphy marks on his leg.

He guided his fingers across one shoulder blade to dip into the space between. With the slightest pressure, he located the bump of each vertebra in Jounouchi's spine, mapping almost the entire column until the spot where it intersected with the submerged knee of the archer's mount. Slowly, his fingers traipsed up the beast's contour, and he leaned forward to examine the rider's face.

His face, or a reasonable approximation of his visage, was adapted for a woodblock painting.

A tremor rippled down Jounouchi's spine, causing the waves in the sea to churn a darker blue and snapping Kaiba out of his trance. Jounouchi edged away from him, so he withdrew his hand.

"What's wrong? Did you feel something?" he asked.

Some people reported heightened sensations when their soulmates directly touched their marks. The romantically-deluded claimed it was because of the "unbreakable" bond between soulmates. Yet, it varied from person to person to such a degree that Kaiba always assumed it was more psychosomatic than anything else.

Muscles bunched and flexed as Jounouchi rolled his shoulders. "Not really. It felt kinda...ticklish, I guess?"

Kaiba disliked the inconclusive answer. One way to test the possibility was to have Jounouchi touch his marks in return, but he refused to undress to that degree.

"I'm finished," he declared.

Instead of reach for his shirt, Jounouchi turned to face him again. His cheeks were even more flushed than before. Kaiba tugged at his shirt collar, also suffocated by the summer heat. They should turn on the AC before one of them suffered heatstroke.

Jounouchi rested both hands on his knees and canted forward, catching and holding Kaiba's gaze. "What were you looking at?"

"I wanted to be sure there wasn't a clue that you overlooked. If Yuugi could be wrong, then you easily could be as well."

Jounouchi knitted his brow as a frown overtook his mouth. "You really think we're wrong?"

Kaiba pursed his lips. His marks were laughably straightforward when deciphered. Once deciphered, they pointed to Jounouchi in everything except name, and Jounouchi's marks seemed to explicitly name him through the language of art. Between Occam's Razor and confirmation bias, Kaiba didn't know which to choose.

Jounouchi narrowed his eyes. "Or were you just hoping that?"

Kaiba didn't believe in fate or destiny. But he also hadn't believed in magic or the supernatural before Yuugi had waltzed into his life. Refusing to re-evaluate his worldview, when presented with overwhelming evidence to the contrary, could be dangerous.

As he contemplated all this and refused to answer Jounouchi, the other man grew more and more agitated as the silence expanded like a physical weight. Finally, with a low growl, Jounouchi dove and shoved him back, momentarily knocking out his breath. His firm grip captured Kaiba by each shoulder and pinned him against the lumpy sofa arm.

"Are you hiding something?" demanded Jounouchi, before his gaze dipped perilously below Kaiba's waist. "Yuugi— He wondered if you were the cause. I thought he was joking or losing his mind, but is he right? Did you get new ones?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Kaiba shouted and tried to buck the blond off.

"Then show me."

"You're an idiot. Even if I showed you, you're not familiar enough with them to know if there are any new ones."

But there was no reasoning with Jounouchi, who released him only to manhandle his belt. Yelping, Kaiba sat up and tried to fend off the other man's hands. But as always, Jounouchi was persistent when he actually set his mind to something. A headbutt glanced off the side of his jaws and rattled him. Kaiba responded with a grab at Jounouchi's shaggy hair and pulled at a fistful of locks. The situation only deteriorated from there, as both men were too stubborn to back off or give up. Kaiba twisted and clawed and tried to vault over the side of the sofa, but Jounouchi caught and yanked his waistband. Hissing at his trousers dragging painfully low on his hips, he dug his palm into Jounouchi's face to push him away.

Several more minutes of breathless swearing and flailing limbs and a handful of near-hits following thrown fists and elbows left them grappling on the floor. The coffee table screeched across the wood when someone kicked a leg and knocked it askew.

"Enough!" Kaiba roared and aimed a knee at Jounouchi's groin. He missed.

"You started it!" Jounouchi shouted. His clumsy grip ripped the top two buttons of Kaiba's shirt.

He barely stopped himself from sputtering when a bead of Jounouchi's sweat landed on his face, centimeters from his panting mouth. Mustering his last bit of leverage on the hardwood floor, he caught Jounouchi's arm and executed a side reversal to flip their positions. Jounouchi's back met the floor in a decidedly rough manner if how he yelped and grunted were any indication. Gracelessly transitioning into a lock, Kaiba kept the other man immobilized as best as possible while he inspected the damage. Other than his dislodged buttons, his shirt was still intact and only partially untucked from his pants. His belt dangled open, still secured through the loops, while its metal buckle clicked with each heaving inhale as Kaiba tried to catch his breath.

Through gritted teeth and flared nostrils, he hissed, "Are you done being an idiot?"

"Screw you."

Sweat drenched Jounouchi's skin and pooled onto the floor, and his face was as red as a tomato. Kaiba wasn't in that much better shape—the back of his shirt was now soaked through.

"Listen to me," Kaiba snapped at the end of his patience. He pinned Jounouchi with a glower as much as with his hands. "I don't have new marks, and Yuugi's new ones have _nothing_ to do with me. There are 2000 employees in the KC office building alone. It could have been someone he passed in the lobby or shared an elevator with."

Jounouchi opened his mouth to argue further.

He cut him off. "Not to mention, who knows who Yuugi ran across on his way to and from the building. He wouldn't have even considered the ridiculous notion if he knew about your marks. For someone who supposedly figured it out years ago, you've been uncharacteristically tight-lipped. So if anyone is looking for a way around this, it's you."

Jounouchi weaseled an arm out and threw a punch. Huffing, Kaiba rolled away to dodge the haphazard blow but collided with the obtrusive coffee table and knocked over a beer can. Both men ignored the alcohol running over the edge and pooling onto the floor.

Pushing up on his elbow, Jounouchi glared. "You're one to talk. You really expect me to believe that it took you, the genius Kaiba Seto, eight years to figure it out? You never wanted to find me!"

He maintained eye contact, keeping an impassive expression all the while. Jounouchi wasn't wrong. Kaiba's ideal would have been to never worry about soulmarks or soulmates in the first place. For years, he had cursed the black marks that flowed down his thigh.

Now faced with the man who was his soulmate for all intents and purposes, Kaiba didn't know what he wanted.

Jounouchi took his silence as agreement, sat up, and jabbed an accusatory finger at him. "See? I'm right! You never wanted a soulmate. So why the hell would I throw myself at someone who doesn't want anything to do with me? Why would I tell anyone about the marks? You have no idea how humiliating it feels to have your so-called soulmate reject you."

Kaiba laughed unkindly. "What? You thought that because these marks pointed us to one another, everything would magically fall into place?"

"At least I'm trying! I figured things might get better if we got to know each other better. But you? You're not evenly trying!"

Wetness glistened in the corner of Jounouchi's eyes, and an invisible hand gripped Kaiba's heart like a vice.

"I'm here, aren't I?" he barked.

Kaiba had security and resources. If he truly never wanted to see Jounouchi again, he could easily make that happen. It would be no difficult feat to live the rest of his natural life without coming into contact with his soulmate again. He didn't need Jounouchi for anything.

Jounouchi dragged a hand down his face, muffling his next words, "Yeah, I can see that. I just wish I knew what that means."

Soulmarks or not, this would never come easily. Not to the two of them. Kaiba barely believed and only accepted because the truth hidden in his marks had been so blunt as if to preemptively stave off his inevitable denial and skepticism. They had been in each other's orbits for so long, steeped in various forms of hostilities.

What did it mean to be soulmates with someone who seemed so diametrically opposed to oneself?

Kaiba'd never envisioned himself in a romantic relationship with another person, man or woman. He had his brother and his company, and those were enough for him on most days. Other people, much less a soulmate, were distractions at best or liabilities at worst.

But supposedly, soulmates weren't always romantic. Sometimes, they were life-long friends or confidants. Maybe that was the role Jounouchi was meant to play in his life? Objectively speaking, the potential was there. Mokuba had been and would continue to be the most enduring presence in Kaiba's life, but Jounouchi, like Yuugi, also persisted over the years.

Jounouchi did know him well, sometimes too well as someone already acquainted with Kaiba at his worst and still accepted him now. Despite that, he did not fear him or his resources, nor did he covet him or his power. Jounouchi was loyal, the sort that couldn't be purchased with gold or silver.

A trustworthy companion, against all the odds, if Kaiba allowed him to be.

"It doesn't mean anything," he responded at long last. "At the end of the day, these marks don't change who we are. They don't change everything that's happened between us or the things we've done in the past."

Short of inventing a time machine, there was no way Kaiba could take back all the demeaning insults and words he'd hurled in their youth. Or to temper the numerous harsh ways he'd rejected the other man's hesitant overtures at friendship over the years.

That history of venomous exchanges would always exist between them.

Without warning, Jounouchi got on his hands and knees and scuttled across the floor until he came face-to-face with Kaiba again. Kaiba recoiled and tried to reintroduce some space between them, but the table against his back stopped him. Glaring, he squared his shoulders and locked eyes with the other man.

After a moment, Jounouchi eased back to sit on his haunches in a not-quite-seiza, balling his hands into fists pressed against each thigh. "No, we can't change the past. We can't pretend like what happened didn't happen. But Kaiba, you're always ranting about how you don't let the past define you. That you're the one to decide how your future plays out. Is this any different?"

Kaiba stared at the other man for several moments because he couldn't refute him. "I suppose not."

"So let's worry about where we go from here instead. Better yet, let this take its course, whatever that is."

Kaiba swallowed a harsh laugh. Jounouchi made it sound so easy. Maybe it was that easy in his mind. "What do you want, Jounouchi?"

He almost added the words "from me" to the question but refrained.

Jounouchi's eyes widened by a fraction, his expression becoming faintly alarmed before he covered it up. "Me? Nothing special. I just want us to get along."

While Kaiba sensed he was telling the truth, it probably wasn't the whole truth. Before he could prod any deeper, Jounouchi climbed to his feet and retrieved his discarded shirt off the couch cushion. The watercolors of his marks shimmered like reflections in a pond before white fabric hid them from sight again.

He turned to face Kaiba, expression now clear of any emotion other than affected casualness. "So, you wanna play Smash Brothers or something?"

Kaiba nodded. He might as well own the deadbeat for several rounds while he was here.

-x-x-x-

Another Wednesday. Another Spherium progress update, except this time, Yuugi and he were also meeting with the dev team to kick-off the upcoming closed beta.

After a fifteen-minute discussion in Kaiba's office, they made their way down to the 25th floor. The Spherium engineers occupied the northwest quadrant of the floor in an open-office plan, where several desks were arranged into pods to promote team communication. Other than the one opaque wall lined with framed Duel Monsters art, the rest was ceiling-to-floor windows with the blinds drawn to block out the bright summer sun.

The meeting took place in one of the two conference rooms reserved for the team. Kaiba took his place at the head of the table, while Yuugi lingered by the glass that faced the workspace. His restless eyes darted from one brightly colored object on someone's desk to the next. The bags under his eyes were heavier than last week, and the bottom of another new hieroglyphic mark peeked out from under his short sleeve. The half-circle of soulmarks had expanded to now cover three-quarters of his bicep.

Kaiba knew better than to ask if Yuugi wouldn't broach the subject first. It didn't take long before the team filed into the conference room. Only then did Yuugi reluctantly take his seat at Kaiba's right.

"Good afternoon, Seto-sama, Yuugi-san. Thank you for joining us today." Takahashi, the technical lead on the project, stood from his seat and bowed. "Please allow me to introduce the rest of my team."

The next few minutes passed in a rush of forgettable introductions. Kaiba wouldn't bother to commit any of them to memory before they had proven themselves in some noteworthy way.

"And this is our newest developer, Tarek Hassan, who joined the company earlier this month." Takahashi indicated to the dark-skinned man sitting at the far end of the table, which also spoke to his junior position.

Tarek shot to his feet and bowed sloppily, but his Japanese was more than competent. "It's an incredible honor to meet you both. I can't tell you how excited I am to be here!"

Kaiba nodded at the man who looked to be about his and Yuugi's age. Foreign-hires were not uncommon at his company, especially within the engineering department. They liked to recruit the best, and that sometimes meant from outside the country. "Welcome to the Kaiba Corporation, Hussain."

"Other me?" came a breathless whisper from his right.

Wait. What?

Yuugi clambering to his feet, hands gripping the edge of the conference table like he needed its support to stand. He only had eyes for the junior dev, and his voice cracked at his next words. "Please tell me it's really you. That you're back somehow."

Kaiba took a second, scrutinizing look at Tarek. The man wore his hair in a short ponytail, but the coloring was the same as Yuugi's. Kaiba couldn't deny the familiarity of his sharp eyes or upward turn of his lips when he smiled apologetically at Yuugi.

"I think you've mistaken me for someone else," said Tarek in an annoyingly familiar voice.

Yuugi shook his head emphatically. "No, I'm not wrong. This isn't my imagination. I'm not going crazy." He tossed a desperate expression in Kaiba's direction. "Kaiba-kun, you agree with me, right?"

It should be impossible, but Kaiba was staring at a man who looked exactly like his rival, who had supposedly moved onto the afterlife. Yet five years after the ceremonial duel, here he was standing in Kaiba's office building wearing a black polo shirt with a tiny picture of Kuriboh over his left breast, ripped jeans, and a pair of thick-rimmed glasses.

Tarek opened his mouth, but his words became lost among a pained groan as he stumbled on his feet. At the same time, Yuugi gave a half-aborted yelp while a bead of blood welled on his bottom lip from how hard he bit it.

Alarmed, Kaiba rose from his seat and started to reach for the other man. But he stopped short when Yuugi released one white-knuckled fist from the table to push up his left shirt sleeve. New marks were being tattooed into the remaining empty space, inflaming the pale skin underneath. It only took seconds before the latest band of hieroglyphs around Yuugi's arm was completed.

Kaiba glanced down the length of the table to find Tarek staring at his own bicep, where he sported a band of soulmarks around his right arm in the exact same place as Yuugi's.

The entire conference room was silent save for the labored breathing from the pair of soulmates. Shocked and curious gazes darted back and forth between Yuugi and Tarek. No one said anything. Nobody dared to move.

"Everyone else, out," ordered Kaiba. "This meeting will be rescheduled."

Everyone appeared relieved at Kaiba's direction, quickly scurrying out of the room to go back to their desks. Soon, the only people that remained in the conference room were Yuugi, Tarek, and himself.

Hesitantly, Tarek crossed the room to Yuugi's side. "You're my soulmate. Yuugi Mutou's my soulmate," he uttered, shell-shocked.

Tears welled in Yuugi's eyes, the only warning before he launched himself straight at the other man, wrapping his arms around his neck. "It's really you. You came back to me."

Tarek stood frozen for several beats before bringing his arms up to return Yuugi's tight embrace. But his eyes remained confused and almost hurt when he met Kaiba's gaze over Yuugi's shoulder. If Tarek was really Atem, then he clearly didn't remember.

"Yuugi, you should calm down and think clearly—"

Yuugi jerked away from Tarek's shoulder, his hand sliding down Tarek's arm to reach for his hand. Instinctively, they tangled their fingers together and cradled palms to one another. As Yuugi shifted to stand to the side and look at Kaiba, the positioning placed their soulmarks side-by-side. Once again, against his will, Kaiba could read the call-and-response between their souls.

_Don't forget me._

_I would never forget you._

"No, I know he's Atem," Yuugi said determinedly, then pressed his free hand over his heart. "I can feel it here."

Kaiba opened his mouth to lecture him about his unwarranted optimism, but Tarek cut him off.

"What did you call me? Atem?" Tarek knotted his brow in deep concentration like he was trying to recall a dream he had last night.

Turning back to his soulmate, Yuugi nodded eagerly with a nauseating amount of hope shining in his eyes. "Atem. Other me. Please remember."

The two men, who stood at nearly equivalent heights, gazed long and deep into each other's eyes. If you asked Kaiba (thankfully, no one had), Yuugi already received a miracle to have his soulmate return from the dead. It seemed greedy to hope his memories could also be so quickly restored. The world wasn't fair, and even for someone like Yuugi, there should be a limit to how he expected everything to magically work out.

"Aibou?" Tarek asked hesitantly before his eyes screwed shut. "The Puzzle... You completed the Puzzle and awoke me."

Tears sprang to Yuugi's eyes again. He raised their intertwined hands and clutched them to his chest. "That's right. Do you remember everything now?"

Dazed, Tarek, no, Atem shook his head slowly. "Not everything, but it's starting to come back to me in bits and pieces. You, Jounouchi-kun, Anzu, Honda-kun,"—His gaze slid over to Kaiba—"And Kaiba too. I know you guys."

Yuugi broke into gentle sobs at the admission, prompting Atem to pull him into another hug and rub a soothing hand up and down Yuugi's bowed back. Kaiba took that as his signal to leave. He spun on his heel and quickly vacated the room. The engineers avoided making eye contact with him even as they not-so-surreptitiously continued to spy on Yuugi and Atem. But given that the conference room was the equivalent of a glass box, any sense of privacy was nothing more than an illusion.

Purposefully, he strolled over to Takahashi's office, another glass box. The tech lead looked up expectantly when Kaiba stopped in the doorway. "You should encourage the team to take an early lunch," he said.

Takahashi nodded and immediately went to collect the others. Kaiba didn't overhear any complaints as the engineers filed out behind Takahashi. There was little doubt that Yuugi and Atem would be the hot topic of discussion over lunch. But when the team returned in an hour, Yuugi and Atem would have sorted enough out that they were no longer an active distraction.

That was probably too much to ask for. Kaiba squeezed the bridge of his nose to fend off an impending headache. After heaving another sigh, he headed toward the exit while his hand reflexively slid into his blazer pocket to retrieve his phone. He stared at the dark screen for several beats before glancing at the two soulmates. Yuugi and Atem had their heads bent together, foreheads touching as they lovingly gazed into each other's eyes.

He doubted anything short of the building collapsing could pry those two apart.

Yuugi had been right from the very start. His soulmate had been and always would be Atem.

Squaring his shoulders, he pushed open the glass door and crossed into the hallway. With his other hand, he unlocked his phone and navigated to his contacts. Jounouchi was third on his list of recent contacts. Someone should probably see Yuugi home after this emotionally trying encounter, and Kaiba would rather the job not fall to him. Jounouchi should be free this afternoon.

He hit the call button.

Jounouchi picked up after the first ring. "Kaiba? Something wrong? You're calling in the middle of the workday." Concern soaked through every word he spoke.

Kaiba inhaled deeply before answering, "Yuugi's found him, his soulmate. He works here at KC."

Silence prevailed for several moments. Kaiba couldn't see Jounouchi's expression, but he would bet money that he was currently slack-jawed on the other end of the call.

"Wait! You're serious!" Jounouchi screeched, forcing Kaiba to pull his phone away for a second.

"Yes."

"Well, who is it? What does he look like?"

"He looks like Atem," Kaiba stated bluntly, then added as almost an afterthought. "He _is_ Atem."

"Oh my god, oh my god, you're not joking, are you? Of course, you're not. You don't joke!" rambled Jounouchi, breathless with excitement and awe. "Holy shit, Atem's back? He really came back! You gotta tell me everything that happened!"

For once, Kaiba indulged him and did as requested.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 暗中模索 （あんちゅうもさく） [anchuumosaku]   
> (n, v) groping in the dark; exploring new avenues without having any clues

Mokuba bounced, rocking back and forth on the ball of his feet as he swept his gaze up and down the street. 

"Are you sure this is the right address?" Kaiba grumbled and buried his cold hands deeper into his pocket. Every word he spoke cast puffs of condensed water vapor into the frigid December night. 

They stood in front of an izakaya, one of the many shops and restaurants that lined the narrow side street. Flocks of shrieking college students and drunkenly caroling office workers streamed in and out of the storefronts. But there was no sign of the people they were supposed to meet. 

Mokuba glared at him. "We wouldn't be late if we left when I told you to. You know, like when Atem said he was headed down to the lobby."

Kaiba sniffed in disdain. He was never late. Not for the events that mattered: meetings, conferences, and dinner parties. A bonenkai was none of those. 

When Jounouchi initially invited him to join the group's annual drinking party, Kaiba had brushed it off. Surprisingly, Jounouchi had backed off. But Atem became the thorn in his side (who was he kidding? Atem was always the problem) when he alerted Mokuba to the open invitation. Having turned twenty this past year, Mokuba was eager to experience all the rites of passage for adulthood, including getting hammered. 

"It appears they're even later." 

But Mokuba had already turned away after catching a glimpse of a familiar figure flying down the pavement. "Oh, there's Jounouchi. Jounouchi, over here!" 

It didn’t surprise Kaiba that Jounouchi was running even tardier.

"Oh, hey, what are you guys doing out here? The gang's already inside." Jounouchi said, huffing and puffing to catch his breath. 

Kaiba and Mokuba had peeked into the restaurant when they first arrived and recognized no one inside. After all, it was impossible to miss Yuugi or Atem with their hair. 

Without waiting for a response, Jounouchi shoved them toward the curtained entrance. "Right, this is you guys' first time joining us. We've come here every year. I worked here straight outta high school, so the owner always saves us the private room in the back."

Once inside, Jounouchi stepped around them and made a beeline toward the back of the restaurant. As he crossed the dining room, he exchanged greetings with a few of the servers in their uniform t-shirts bearing the izakaya's name and dark aprons. He even stopped to hug a matronly older woman, who was presumably the restaurant owner previously mentioned. 

There was a shoji door opposite the bathrooms down a cramped hallway. A pile of shoes sat on the mat on the recessed genkan before it. 

Jounouchi kicked off his sneakers and threw open the door. "Hey, guys!" 

A chorus of "Jounouchi" and "Jounouchi-kun" flowed into the hallway like a wave. Mokuba followed the blond's example and haphazardly shed his shoes in the growing mound. On the other hand, Kaiba gripped the door jamb and methodically removed his loafers before setting them neatly to the side. After he stepped into the private dining room, he slid the door shut. 

"Alright, Kaiba showed. Losers pay up!" declared Atem with a wide smirk. 

Money quickly changed hands, from a disgruntled Honda and chagrined Bakura to a smug Atem and Yuugi. Mazaki rolled her eyes as she oversaw the exchange. To Kaiba's surprise, Jounouchi wasn't taking part, quickly flipping a laminated menu over once he took a seat at the low table. 

"I can fire you," Kaiba threatened, kneeling and taking the empty space next to Jounouchi and directly across from Atem. Mokuba quickly took the spot next to him. 

"You won't," Atem replied confidently. 

No. Kaiba wouldn't. Atem, or rather Tarek, was a damn good programmer as much as he was a duelist. Sometimes, Kaiba preferred the Atem from months earlier, before he'd regained the vast majority of his memories even if they made a more worthy challenger in Duel Monsters. 

"Don't fight, you two," sighed Yuugi, who, of course, sat next to his soulmate. 

"Leave 'em, Yuugi. Pretty sure that's how these two get their rocks off," said Jounouchi, eyes still fixated on the menu in hand. 

"Ew!" declared Honda loudly. 

From the other end of the table, Otogi flung a bottle cap at Jounouchi, who ducked from the other end of the table, and the object ricocheted off Kaiba's shoulder instead. He glared, and Otogi quickly averted his gaze like Kaiba hadn't watched him throw the damn thing. 

With greetings out of the way, the group turned their attention to ordering food. They did so by shouting orders and requests to Jounouchi, who had dropped the menu to scribble the choices on a server's notepad seemingly produced out of nowhere. His handwriting was large and messy, filling the page with numbers and spiraling characters. 

Next came the drink orders. 

"Chuhais," exclaimed Mokuba. 

Jounouchi leaned forward to make eye contact with Kaiba's brother. "Not this early on. You gotta learn to pace yourself, kiddo. It's a marathon, not a sprint."

"Beer before liquor or you've never been sicker," Honda recited sagely. 

A brief shouting match erupted between Otogi and Honda over what brand of beer to get before Jounouchi shut them both down with what was actually available on the menu. Then he stood and left the room, presumably to deliver the group's order to the kitchen. 

At least four different conversations were happening at the table. Mokuba had no trouble inserting himself straight into the middle of Yuugi and Atem's. Without a conversation partner of his own (not that he desired one), Kaiba busied himself with a pile of edamame taken from the heap set in the center of the table. Slowly, he de-podded the beans and chewed on them while observing his peers. 

He wouldn't deny something was disconcerting about taking part in a group gathering like this. It wasn't like a meeting where everyone paid attention to one speaker or even business dinners, where associates made idle small talk while still veiling to angle for their business agenda.

Several minutes later, Jounouchi returned with another server, their arms laden with beer bottles and glasses then distributed to everyone at the table. With a smirk, Jounouchi thrust a large bottle of Kirin into Mokuba's arms. "Youngest one gets to serve. Welcome to adulthood, kiddo." 

Mokuba stuck out his tongue but took the bottle and twisted off the cap. While looking Jounouchi dead in the eye the whole time, Mokuba poured a tall glass for Kaiba first. 

Jounouchi laughed, shook his head, and retook his seat. 

After Mokuba poured a glass for everyone, Yuugi resolutely raised his glass and said, "Cheers to another year." 

Atem caught his soulmate's eye and smiled gently. "Yes, and cheers to the next one." 

Next to him, Jounouchi faked a gagging noise, which Kaiba found himself agreeing with. "Get a room, you two," he jeered. There was a strange light in his eyes that was neither teasing nor affectionate. "But you’re not wrong. This has been a fucking _wild_ year, so cheers to that!"

In Kaiba's opinion, "wild" didn't begin to cover everything that happened this calendar year. Mokuba turned twenty, becoming a full-fledged adult in his own right. Then came the shocking revelation that Kaiba's soulmarks had been pointing him toward Jounouchi the entire time. Only Atem's sudden and still unexplained return from the dead baffled Kaiba more. The only thing missing was a card-game playing megalomaniac bent on world domination like the "good, old days." 

There was time left. The year wasn’t over for another three weeks.

A chorus of "cheers'' resonated through the room. Kaiba dutifully clicked his glass with Jounouchi's, Yuugi's, Atem's, and his brother's before taking a deep gulp.

-x-x-x-

Time slipped by as everyone, including Kaiba, staggered toward various states of inebriation. Empty plates were exchanged for new ones filled with more food to stave off some of the drunkenness. In fact, Mokuba was probably the soberest person in the room as he was too busy refilling everyone else's glasses to drink. Yuugi and Bakura were the most far-gone, often giggling and joking with each other when Yuugi wasn't too busy trying to climb into Atem's lap like a spoiled, overgrown house cat. 

Mazaki spent far too much time cooing over the couple, growing louder in her admiration as her cheeks flushed pinker with each drink. Jounouchi, on the other hand, grew more morose with each glass. Sometimes, it looked like he was doing everything he could to avoid looking at the couple. 

Funny, Kaiba had never figured the blond for a quiet or sad drunk.

Entirely by accident, Kaiba and Jounouchi locked eyes through a side-glance. Jounouchi leaned close but didn't touch him. "They're disgustingly lovey-dovey, ain't they?"

Kaiba nodded mutely in agreement. Yuugi and Atem were disgustingly happy together any time they shared the same space. The two couldn't help but make gooey eyes at each other during every damn Spherium progress meeting. He'd threatened to throw them out of a conference room or the building on more than one occasion. 

Yuugi turned his violet eyes, alcohol-glazed and significantly less doe-like than usual, on them and flashed a smile with too many teeth. "Maybe you'd be less bitter if you talked with your soulmate, Jounouchi-kun."

Maybe that cat comparison wasn't so far off. The claws came out in a flash. 

Throwing his head back, Jounouchi chugged the rest of his beer and slammed the glass down with a glare. Cups and dishware up and down the table rattled from the force. "What's that supposed to mean?" he snarled.

Yuugi rolled his eyes as he rearranged himself in Atem's lap until he was cradled against the other man's chest. Atem automatically wrapped his arms around Yuugi's waist to both steady and embrace him. 

Instead of answering Jounouchi, Yuugi addressed Kaiba, "Did you know Jounouchi-kun has a soulmate? He has marks on his back. We’ve seen them because of PE back in high school. Not sure you've ever noticed."

"Not particularly," Kaiba replied flatly. Whatever he might think of Jounouchi's marks now, he hadn't known of their existence in high school. 

"It was one of the first things we bonded over," Yuugi boasted. "Trying to figure out who our soulmates were. And Jounouchi-kun even figured out his first! One day, he came to the shop and said he knew who it was. Just like that! But he refused to tell me, his _best friend—_ "

"Hey, what about me?!" exclaimed Honda and was promptly ignored by everyone.

"—who it was. All he said was that his soulmate wanted nothing to do with him."

"Yuugi," Jounouchi growled in a warning.

Emboldened by liquid courage, Yuugi continued despite Atem's non-verbal prodding to get him to stop. "Turns out Jounouchi-kun never told his soulmate. He just _assumed_ and refused to approach them."

"Because soulmarks or not, not everyone gets a happily-ever-after dropped into their freaking lap like you do!" roared Jounouchi.

Yuugi glared, which was an expression Kaiba had never seen on his face before. "No, you were being cruel. You threw a tantrum and stayed away, making sure whoever it was would have to experience the pain of new marks for as long as possible. You drew it out when you didn't have to. Do you know how lucky you are to have met your soulmate? To know who they are? How many people on this earth never get that chance?"

Kaiba's stomach lurched. Maybe he shouldn’t have eaten that fifth skewer of grilled chicken hearts.

"I'm sure Jounouchi didn't mean it like that," interrupted Mokuba after sensing how the tension mounted.

Jounouchi jutted his chin, jaws clenched as he spat, "So what if I did? It's still none of your business, Yuugi."

As if with a mind of its own, Kaiba’s hand grazed Jounouchi’s shoulders before he snatched it back. Thankfully, his soulmate was too engrossed in his argument with Yuugi to notice. But the gesture did not escape Atem’s notice, but the man was more interested in calming his soulmate than dissecting Kaiba’s uncharacteristic behavior.

Atem tried to ply Yuugi with a glass of water. “Aibou, you should take a sip.”

Yuugi shoved his soulmate’s hand away and splashed the table. “Don’t try to distract me,” he hissed. “I’ve kept my mouth shut for years, but not tonight.”

“Yuugi—” Atem started to plead.

But Yuugi ignored him and addressed Kaiba instead. "I hope you didn't do that to your soulmate, Kaiba-kun," he said calmly as if he didn't drop a bomb at the table.

The reaction was instantaneous. Every head whipped toward Kaiba, most plainly dumbfounded by the declaration. Even Jounouchi, Kaiba's so-called soulmate, scrutinized him through narrowed, suspicious eyes. Kaiba quickly gulped his beer to buy himself a moment because he sensed that Yuugi had latched onto the subject like a dog to a bone. Unfortunate because Kaiba wasn't nearly drunk enough to publicly field this topic with this particular crowd.

Mokuba, who knew Kaiba had marks, broke the stunned silence. "Wait, Nii-sama, you never told me you figured out who?! Why didn't you tell me?"

To avoid this exact scenario.

With overly bright and interested eyes, Bakura gripped the edge of the table and leaned forward in breathless anticipation. "Who is it?"

"Bakura-kun!" scolded Mazaki.

"Oh, like you're not also dying to know!"

"Yeah, but still!"

"Oh, fuck this bullshit," Jounouchi muttered darkly and started to climb to his feet. 

Without thinking, Kaiba reached out and caught Jounouchi's elbow. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Outta here," snapped Jounouchi, trying to shake off his vice grip.

Kaiba tightened his hold. No way would he allow Jounouchi to toss him to his wolves for friends. "I don't think so. You're not leaving me here to deal with this."

Atem's calculating gaze narrowed on them, burning into the spot where Kaiba held Jounouchi. He should release Jounouchi and let him leave, but it was probably too late. Atem must already see through them. It was that same quicksilver intelligence that Kaiba prized for his work and rued in the duel arena came to bear on them. When they weren’t approaching shit-faced drunk, Atem and Yuugi were champions at solving puzzles.

Best to rip off the band-aid himself, Kaiba decided. Take control of the situation in whatever way remained.

"Tell them"—he gestured to their riveted audience—"Have I mistreated you since we reconciled our marks?"

The room went insane, devolving into shouting and disbelief. Using a firm tug, Kaiba pulled the shell-shocked Jounouchi back into his seat and poured himself a new glass of beer. Without releasing his soulmate’s arm, Kaiba drank and stared down Jounouchi.

The news flipped a switch in Yuugi, who swung wildly from consternation to giddy approval. The man even abandoned his soulmate to cuddle up to Jounouchi's side. Kaiba and Atem shared a disgruntled look, which Kaiba broke preemptively because he refused to empathize with his rival in that manner. 

At that point, Mokuba finally got his wish for shochu highballs, which the group demanded both to celebrate the shocking revelation and as an excuse to get further shit-faced. Honda drank like he wanted to blackout and forget the night ever happened. For once, Kaiba empathized with him. 

Stone-faced, Kaiba matched his brother drink for drink, silently boring his lecturing and whining while staving off answering humiliating questions in public with the promise of "later." At least he only had one nosy person to contend with. 

Knowing they would get nothing out of Kaiba, the rest of the group honed in on Jounouchi, who answered their questions in the vaguest terms that impressed even Kaiba with his evasiveness. Several times when the questions got particularly invasive, namely coming from Otogi, Kaiba had shut it down with a biting remark after a pleading glance from his soulmate. During that time, he kept one hand on Jounouchi’s elbow for at least fifteen minutes until he was sure he wouldn’t try to escape. 

Eventually, the questions and attention did let up, even if the occasional teasing didn't. The celebratory spirit returned with vigor, as did the annoyingly cheerful conversations that Kaiba didn’t want any part of. He was even shot down the one time he tried to challenge Atem to a duel. The nerve!

Placing one hand on Kaiba's knee, Jounouchi, along with the smell of cucumber-flavored shochu, invaded his space and slurred, "You just had to tell ‘em tonight, didn't you?"

"They got over it."

"Asshole." 

Another hand landed on Kaiba's thigh, right over his marks, and he fought a shiver. Kaiba was torn between shoving Jounouchi away and drawing him closer. Fuck, no. That must be the alcohol's doing. The last thing he wanted was for Jounouchi to be plastered against him like Yuugi on Atem. He slid away from Jounouchi, who fell and hit the tatami mat without his support, and moved to the exit.

"Where are _you_ going?" Jounouchi called once he lifted his face off the floor.

"To order sake."

The night was still distressingly young, and Kaiba wasn't nearly drunk enough. 

-x-x-x-

Almost four hours after they first arrived, the group stumbled out of the restaurant and spilled into the streets to join other Saturday night revelers. Most could barely stand or walk without the support of another person. Draped across Atem's back, Yuugi had been the first to succumb, now dead to the world and snoring. Honda, Otogi, and Bakura were tangled together like participants in a four-legged race, while Mazaki and Mokuba supported each other between bouts of giggling.

And Jounouchi? Kaiba held him upright and guided him forward by the scruff of his jacket collar.

"Where to next?!" Jounouchi boomed as if he was capable of making it anywhere without several intimate encounters with the sidewalk first.

Grunting, Atem rearranged his grip on Yuugi as the man began to slip. "I think this is it for us. Gonna get Yuugi home to Jii-chan."

Jounouchi pitched toward them. The momentum almost brought him and Kaiba to the ground before Kaiba firmed his stance. Ignoring Kaiba swearing at his back, Jounouchi reached out and poked his sleeping friend's cheek. "Aw, he's like a little angel."

Kaiba rolled his eyes. What was wrong with these people? They were ready to jump down each other's throats just hours ago.

"Hah, you're all _old_!" jeered Mokuba. "Later, losers. I'm off to meet some friends and keep drinking!"

Jounouchi flipped the bird at the youngest boy, and Kaiba automatically reached out and swatted the vulgar gesture. 

"Rude," groused Jounouchi, choosing to dance closer until he pressed the entire length of his body against Kaiba.

"Get off," he snapped, but Jounouchi refused to comply. As Mokuba broke away from the group, Kaiba called after his brother. "Be careful!"

"Don't worry about it. You should worry more about getting your _soulmate_ home in one piece." A cackle rang through the air as Mokuba fled into the night.

That ungrateful little shit! 

Bit by bit, members of the group peeled away in twos and threes, some cramming into taxis and others down into the bowels of Domino's metro until only Kaiba and Jounouchi remained.

"They ditched me!" Jounouchi whined belatedly. "Unbelievable!"

"Can you find your way home?" Kaiba asked, long-suffering.

Jounouchi straightened and threw off his grip. After spinning in a circle, he chirped, "Yep, got it." Then he started lumbered in the direction opposite of his apartment.

Kaiba slapped a hand to his face and winced when his head and ears rang. "Come on, my place's closer. You can sober up there first before heading home."

Jounouchi spun and glared, "Don't you live like way outside town? How's that close? Are you up to some funny business?"

Part of him was tempted to clarify what Jounouchi meant by "funny business," but Kaiba was too drunk and emotionally drained to actually care. He wanted nothing more than to collapse in bed and pull the covers tight over his head. Get enough sleep before the inevitable hangover woke him and drove him to seek refuge in early morning work emails and vitamin B supplements. 

Seizing Jounouchi again by the scruff of his jacket, Kaiba dragged him in the direction of his penthouse apartment. "I moved into a building downtown after Mokuba started college. It's closer to the office anyway."

Even though Mokuba had chosen to go to a local university, he craved the stereotypical experience of being an average college student. So with Kaiba's blessing, he'd moved out of the mansion and into a commoner's apartment in the college's outlying neighborhood. It didn't take long before Kaiba himself grew sick and tired of how empty the mansion became without Mokuba's presence. Moving turned into the best personal decision he'd made in a long time since it had cut his commute from forty minutes to ten.

Even though his building was within walking distance, Kaiba flagged a cab and shoved Jounouchi inside. They were in and out of the taxi in under ten minutes flat, which deposited them in front of Kaiba's luxury apartment building. Jounouchi trailed behind him as they approached the front door and were greeted by the doorman. Once inside the lobby, Jounouchi froze and gaped at his surroundings for several moments before catching himself and scurrying to enter the elevator.

They spent the ride to the top floor in complete silence with Jounouchi about-faced and pressing his forehead to an opposite wall. He was so quiet that Kaiba wondered if he'd fallen asleep standing up. 

When the elevator chimed to signal their arrival, Jounouchi jumped and glanced around wildly. "'Course you live in the penthouse," he snorted.

Pausing at the threshold of his front door, Kaiba questioned the wisdom of his decision. Did he really want Jounouchi in his private space? He should have thought of that ten, fifteen minutes ago. Fucking alcohol.

"Hurry up," Jounouchi urged at his back. "I gotta pee."

He sighed. Definitely too late to reconsider. 

As soon as he unlocked his door, Jounouchi pushed past him and bound into the apartment. "Where's your bathroom?"

"Third door down the hallway on your left."

Jounouchi broke into a sprint.

"Shoes off!" Kaiba called after him. 

A discarded sneaker flew over Jounouchi's shoulder and hit Kaiba's shin with startling precision. Its brethren laid abandoned by the edge of the kitchen area as Jounouchi sprinted down the hall. A slamming door echoed through the apartment.

Bending over made Kaiba woozy and gave him vertigo, so he lumbered over to his living room couch and sat down before removing his shoes. But once he sat down, he wasn't inclined to get back up again. He unbuttoned and peeled himself out of his coat sleeves, leaving the outerwear wrinkled underneath him. Sinking into the cushions, he gazed out the opposite window at the glowing cityscape beyond. His dark home was a soothing balm to his aching head and tired eyes.

His eyelids slid closed, and he soaked in the quiet night.

The sound of a flushing toilet and running water soon reminded him that he wasn't alone. But still, he didn't want to move from his resting place, not even as Jounouchi's footsteps trod ever closer. He could feel the other man's presence hover nearby without speaking. Finally, he opened his eyes to peek at his guest. 

Jounouchi stood by the side of the couch, shifting listlessly from one foot to the other, but he was standing. Something wet hit the back of Kaiba's hand. Upon closer inspection, beads of water dripped from Jounouchi's hair to slide down his face before hitting Kaiba's floor in pitter-patter.

"What did you do?" Kaiba scowled. "You're dripping everywhere."

Jounouchi shrugged. More droplets splattered along Kaiba's arm. "Stuck my head under the faucet. Thought it might help me sober up."

With a groan, Kaiba heaved himself to his feet and made his way into the open-plan kitchen. He fished a dishtowel from a drawer and tossed it at his guest. "Wipe off. You're ruining my floor."

Jounouchi caught the towel. He stared at it for several seconds before wiping his hair and face as instructed. "You can afford it."

Ignoring the jab, Kaiba turned away and went to his fridge instead. The interior lights stabbed his eyes like daggers, and he groped blindly before retrieving two bottled waters from the inside. As he passed Jounouchi, he left one of the bottles on the kitchen island next to the man before finding his way to the couch again. Out of the corner of his eyes, he watched Jounouchi drape the towel over one shoulder, crack open the water, and drink greedily from the bottle.

Kaiba toyed with the lip of his bottle as the night's events replayed in his head. Had he really announced the fact that he and Jounouchi were soulmates to the entire group? Fuck, why did he do that? As if Atem wasn't fucking insufferable enough. Kaiba made a mental note to rearrange his schedule for the next week or so to minimize contact with Atem at work. Hell, he was even happy Mokuba didn't currently live with him so he could avoid the avalanche of questions.

He bounced in his seat when Jounouchi threw himself into the empty spot next to Kaiba. It was then that Kaiba noticed he was no longer wearing his puffy coat. Who knew where the messy blond had dumped the jacket?

"I still can't believe you told them," Jounouchi said after a brief stretch of quiet.

Ah, it seemed Jounouchi was ruminating on the same subject.

Kaiba placed his half-empty bottle on the end table and folded his arms across his chest. "And I can't believe you never did. Aren't you all supposed to be thick as thieves, friendships forged by fire, and all that nonsense?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I tell 'em _everything._ "

Kaiba harrumphed quietly. 

Jounouchi fidgeted, continually casting sidelong glances at him. He cleared his throat before saying, "Y'know they're now gonna assume things about us."

"Things?" He arched a sardonic eyebrow at the entirely useless descriptor.

"Yeah, things. Like we're like Yuugi and Atem."

A short, barking laugh escaped Kaiba. "Like lovesick fools? Hardly."

"Okay, fine, maybe not like that. But they're gonna think we're together or something. That we kiss and get handsy with each other."

"We don't," pointed out Kaiba. The most "handsy" they'd ever been with one other was when he and Jounouchi fought that one time in his apartment because he tried to undo Kaiba's pants to see his marks.

A fire lit in Jounouchi's eyes and voice. "Yeah, well, most soulmates do. They like each other and want to be close."

Kaiba flashed a caustic smile in return. "We're not like most soulmates, are we?"

"ARGH!" Jounouchi turned and screamed into the back cushion. "God, I hate you so much sometimes! You're infuriating and stubborn and stupidly hot. What did I do to deserve this?"

Kaiba snorted, closing his eyes again to leave Jounouchi to his miniature breakdown. Moments passed before his eyes sprang open again, and he twisted to face the other man with his face still buried in the couch. "Wait, did you call me 'hot'?"

Jounouchi lifted his head and glared. "Did you miss the part where I said I hate you?"

"Of course not, that part I expected. I never guessed you found me attractive."

"Fuck, like your ego needs to get stoked anymore, but yes, fine, since tonight's let's-humiliate-Jounouchi-night, I admit it. I think you're super hot. I would totally jump your bones given the chance. Happy? Now how far up are we? Got any balconies I can hurl myself offa?" 

When Jounouchi began to stand, Kaiba caught his wrist and yanked him down again. The force knocked Jounouchi off-balance, and he fell against Kaiba's shoulder with a soft oomph. With his other hand, he gripped the front of Jounouchi's shirt so he couldn't get away. Jounouchi's face now hovered centimeters away from his, haloed by the city lights against the mostly darkened living room. Kaiba had never seen his eyes that dark or that brown. 

Hot. Jounouchi thought him to be attractive enough to want to have sex with. The notion should unsettle him more than it didn't in reality.

Objectively, Kaiba understood his soulmate to be handsome or, at the very least, charismatic. One did not become a successful professional duelist without some amount of charisma. Jounouchi not only had sponsors for his dueling career, but he also received brand endorsements and did a fair amount of street-fashion modeling. 

As long as Kaiba could remember, Jounouchi had this energy, a bright and buoyant sort, to him. It used to annoy Kaiba to no end, along with the die-hard optimism. Others clearly saw it too. Jounouchi had dated no shortage of men and women through the years, including a B-list actress last year. Although the rumor mills had been quiet on that front for many months now. 

Now he wondered if he was really immune to that bright allure. 

At least not when he'd been drinking most of the night. Besides, like Jounouchi pointed out, this was something most soulmates did, so why not them?

Why not? 

Craning his head, he pressed his lips to Jounouchi's mouth, which was softer than anticipated. Despite sucking in a deep breath, Jounouchi didn't push him away or pull him closer. Their eyes remained wide and open, gazing into each other as their slack mouths touched but didn't move. 

When they parted, still close enough to breathe the same air, Kaiba asked, "How was that?"

Jounouchi swallowed visibly. His lips trembled. "It was okay."

"Okay?" he repeated. Indignation flared inside Kaiba.

"Yeah, okay. Sweet maybe. Innocent like a first kiss," Jounouchi elaborated after a second.

Disgusted, he released Jounouchi and drew away. He reached for his abandoned water bottle and drank the rest while Jounouchi sat down again. When he finished, he crushed the plastic and aimed for the wastebasket on the other side of the room. 

"Wait, was that your first kiss?" Jounouchi asked as he loosed the bottle.

Kaiba missed his target by almost a meter.

"What's it to you if it was?" he snarled, still refusing to look at Jounouchi. 

A hesitant hand landed on his shoulder, causing him to tense. Every muscle in his body wanted to throw off Jounouchi's hand as much as he yearned to lean into the touch.

"Kaiba, don't be like that. I wasn't making fun of you. I didn't expect it was all."

"Don't you dare read too much into it. It's not because of any trash romantic notions about soulmates. I don't have much interest in most people, much less kissing them. So I didn't," he growled.

At least he and Jounouchi were alike in not clinging to delusions of true love and romantic soulmates. He swallowed the bile rising within him as he once again recalled all the people Jounouchi had been romantically linked with in the last five years alone. Clearly, Jounouchi had never let the fact he had a supposed soulmate or apparently knowing who he was stopped him from pursuing other romantic interests. 

So conversely, Kaiba wouldn't allow the same to force himself to start. 

God, letting Jounouchi into his apartment had been a mistake. 

Jounouchi's next words were spoken so close that his breath played across the shell of Kaiba's ear, and Kaiba flinched with his entire body. "But now you do? I mean, that's why you tried just now, right?"

Heat flooded Kaiba's cheeks and the back of his neck. He double-checked to make sure he had indeed taken off his coat. "Forget it. It was clearly a lapse in judgment. Because of the alcohol."

"Nope, you don't get to brush me off like that."

"Leave it!"

"No."

Finally, he glared at Jounouchi, still half-sitting in his lap and pressed against his shoulder. Jounouchi answered his glower by cupping one flushed cheek and asking, "Wanna try again?"

Kaiba's heart skipped a beat. Then it hammered away at his rib cage with renewed vigor. He should say no. He should push Jounouchi away. He should toss the deadbeat out on his ass and crawl into bed. Better yet, he could get into his wet bar and keep drinking in the hope that more alcohol would short-circuit his memory of tonight. 

Yet caught in the palm of Jounouchi's warm hand and the glow of his eyes, Kaiba could only wait with bated breath as his soulmate closed the distance again. He leaned into the kiss. Pressed their mouths harder together like it was the only correct answer to a math equation. Jounouchi's lips were as soft and plush as before, but there was something about them when combined with how Jounouchi melted into him and his body heat that made Kaiba's head spin. 

"Breathe," Jounouchi murmured against his mouth, and Kaiba exhaled the breath he'd been holding in.

Gently, Jounouchi maneuvered his head, affectionately bumping their noses before applying more pressure with his lips. Oh, Kaiba liked that. He liked the heat and sweet need passing back and forth between them as if in a closed loop. It was better than okay. It felt good. 

Kaiba settled a hand on each of Jounouchi's hips, grasping the shirt and the jeans underneath as an anchor. Jounouchi's hand released his cheek and found its way into his hair, tipping his head back ever so slightly so Jounouchi could nibble at his lips. The sensation shot through his entire body like a lightning bolt, tearing a small gasp from his throat.

The sounds of traffic didn't reach this high up. The only noise he could hear was their hitched breaths, the moist sound of their lips moving against each other, and the rush of his racing pulse ringing in his ears—a smothering soundscape composed by and for them, where the rest of the world couldn't touch them. 

Kaiba drowned in all of it: the way their clothing rustled in embrace, the heat of Jounouchi's soft but insistent kiss, and the muted feelings between them given new color and life. Maybe this was the final culmination of months—no, years of stolen glances, misdirected anger, and unwittingly shouldering each other burden in times of need. This was Jounouchi: deadbeat, third-rate duelist, a soulmate he didn't ask for, who kissed him despite knowing just how cruel and thoughtless he could be.

When Jounouchi drew away, Kaiba caught himself wanting to chase after him. He bit his bottom lip in frustration. To his delight, the move summoned Jounouchi again to give one more firm kiss.

"How was that?" asked Jounouchi.

Their foreheads touched with hair tickling each other's temples. Kaiba exhaled a shuddering breath before croaking, "Better."

Jounouchi flashed a smile, so effortlessly and boyishly handsome. It crinkled the edge of his eyes and exposed a dimple in his right cheek. Kaiba couldn't not kiss him again after that. 

One kiss led to another and another until he lost count of how many. Before Kaiba knew it, he was sinking entirely into the cushions and lying lengthwise across his couch with Jounouchi draped on top. Jounouchi's hands were everywhere—tangled in his hair, petting his neck, and running suggestively along his belt and waistband. Kaiba couldn't find a place to rest his agitated fingers, which listlessly wandered across Jounouchi's clothed body. He could hardly think beyond the dizzying sensations that Jounouchi teased out with each breath, each touch, each kiss. Especially as those scorching lips began exploring other places, marking a blazing trail across his jaw and ear and neck. Biting back a strangled moan and arching into the firm body caging him, he sank his nails into Jounouchi's flesh.

"Shit," murmured Jounouchi.

Kaiba reluctantly pried open his eyes to look at the man above him, whose face was pinched like he was in pain. "What's wrong?"

"Marks," Jounouchi gritted out before burying his face in the crook of Kaiba's neck. He shook like a leaf under Kaiba's hands.

It took him several seconds to realize he'd hiked up Jounouchi's shirt to dig his fingers into Jounouchi's bare back. He unclenched his fingers to rest his palms flat against the skin. Still, Jounouchi groaned and panted against his neck. So it wasn't because he'd scratched or hurt Jounouchi? But because Kaiba was touching the soulmarks inscribed on his back. 

Curious. Jounouchi hadn't reacted this way the last time Kaiba touched the marks. He claimed it felt ticklish at the time.

Tentatively, he stroked the feverish hot skin, eliciting another sweet moan from Jounouchi's mouth. The sound settled low in Kaiba's gut and warmed him with a glow unrivaled by alcohol. If Kaiba were a better man—a kinder man, he would have stopped when Jounouchi was so obviously overwhelmed. 

But he was none of those things, and Jounouchi knew that.

Driven by curiosity and perhaps even a dose of cruelty, he dragged both palms up the length of Jounouchi's spine, knowing from memory that his touch would span the entirety of the image in the marks. Jounouchi's back bowed and trembled. His breathing turned ragged against the increasingly damp skin of Kaiba's neck. Kaiba couldn't deny there was something heady about having this kind of effect on another person, to be able to give such pleasure that it appeared to border on pain.

Without warning, Jounouchi latched a grip in his hair and yanked his head to the side. When his hot lips touched his thumping pulse-point, Kaiba thought Jounouchi might try to bite him, but instead, he sucked on the skin and rutted against Kaiba's thigh. The hard erection momentarily threw Kaiba for a loop. Jounouchi did say he wanted to "jump his bones," so this was proof of that sentiment. 

Then again, Kaiba's pants felt a lot tighter than they had been many minutes ago.

Upping his game, Kaiba lightly scratched the same path down Jounouchi's back, prompting the man to suck and lick harder at his neck. The sensation shot straight to his groin, bringing him to full arousal to match the hardness rubbing against his leg. 

Jounouchi tore his mouth away, much to Kaiba's disappointment. His lustful face and wild eyes were barely visible by the soft light cast by the one table-side lamp illuminating the room. "You need to stop."

"I don't take orders from you." Kaiba bared his teeth in the sort of menacing expression that belonged in the boardroom, not in his home, and definitely not in the bedroom. But Jounouchi must not mind, given how he arched further into Kaiba's touch. 

When Jounouchi next reached for his belt, Kaiba didn't stop him. He rubbed circles into his back as Jounouchi swore and fumbled with the buckle. He could help, but he enjoyed watching Jounouchi struggle. Instead, as Jounouchi worked the metal prong out of the leather hole, Kaiba rolled Jounouchi's shirt up until the fabric bunched in his neck and armpits. 

"Fuck," swore Jounouchi, releasing the belt long enough to tear his shirt off. He threw the clothing to the floor and attacked Kaiba's belt with renewed determination. 

Kaiba dropped his gaze to the tent in Jounouchi's jeans. Jerkily, he brought one hand around the front to flick open the button and ease the zipper open. By the time Kaiba started to rub him through his boxers, Jounouchi finally wrestled his belt off. But Kaiba's relative inexperience was rapidly catching up to him, bringing along a companion in the form of unease. Jounouchi felt hard under the cotton, and his cock jumped at Kaiba's caresses. 

When Jounouchi, in turn, eased off him, Kaiba choked down a protest, refusing to appear desperate. But Jounouchi had only moved to give himself room to work Kaiba's pants off finally. From his place between Kaiba's feet, Jounouchi slowly, painstakingly rolled each pant leg down until Kaiba shivered in anticipation. The trousers quickly joined Jounouchi's shirt on the floor, and the blond returned to kissing him. 

The first butterfly touch that grazed across his inner thighs caused Kaiba to gasp and shudder. Without hesitating, Jounouchi seized the opportunity to slip his wet tongue into Kaiba's mouth. Moaning, he dug his fingers into the marks on Jounouchi's back. Jounouchi reciprocated by firmly gripping his quivering thigh, rubbing a roughened thumbpad along a column of his soulmarks. 

Every nerve ending in his body ignited at the touch. If this was how Jounouchi felt when Kaiba touched his marks, it was no wonder he seemed almost in pain. Like liquid fire and lightning coursing through his veins, it rid his mind of any coherent thoughts beyond "more" and "too much." It pooled in his lower half, making him harder than he'd ever been in his life. 

Snarling, then sucking on Jounouchi's wicked tongue, he yanked the other man closer and bucked wantonly against him. When Jounouchi raked his nails down his marks, Kaiba almost howled in pleasure-pain. He threw his head back against the sofa arm pillowed under him. Unable to control his panting breath or shaking body, he stared at the ceiling in a daze. The room itself seemed to spin.

Jounouchi sucked another stinging mark against Kaiba's neck before relenting. He lightly grasped his chin and nudged him to meet his gaze. "Shit, I thought I was sensitive. You're falling to pieces, Kaiba." 

Kaiba swallowed the lump lodged in his throat and tried to muster a glare. He was pretty sure he'd failed. Whatever venom he wanted to spit dissolved as Jounouchi traced one of the larger characters inscribed on his skin. His cock twitched and rubbed against the growing damp spot in his briefs. Pinned under Jounouchi's weight and his predatory gaze, Kaiba was helpless to do anything but subject himself to the other man's mercies. 

"You wanna cum?" asked Jounouchi, his fingers never slowed in their stroking. "God, I wanna see you cum so bad. Wanna make you cum real bad." 

Moaning in unspoken agreement was the extent of coherency Kaiba was capable of. His head swam more than all the alcohol he'd consumed that evening. 

"C'mon, Kaiba, work with me here," muttered Jounouchi. 

He let Jounouchi rearrange his position on the couch so that both his feet touched the floor again. Then without a word, Jounouchi fell to his knees in front of him, parting Kaiba's legs to settle in the newly vacated space. Kaiba stared at his golden head, shining soft and bright under the moonlight, as he bent forward to plant an open-mouth kiss above his knee. Every centimeter of his skin prickled, drawn too tight over his trembling muscles. When Jounouchi tugged on his briefs’ waistband, Kaiba could only obey, lift his hips, and allow Jounouchi to remove his underwear. Jounouchi flashed a sultry grin as he guided one of Kaiba's legs over his shoulder and urged him to scoot forward until he sat on the edge of the cushion. 

For what felt like an eternity, Jounouchi shamelessly licked and kissed every expanse of bare skin he could reach. Beads of precum gathered on his cock as Jounouchi took him apart, one lick and one caress at a time. His agile tongue boldly explored the border between Kaiba's leg and groin, sucking new temporary marks that darkened his pale skin. The only places he wouldn't touch were Kaiba's soulmarks and his cock, even as the soft strands of his hair tickled both. 

With one hand tangled in Jounouchi's hair and the other in a death grip on a soft pillow, he thrust and jerked his hips in an unspoken plea. If Jounouchi didn't do _something_ soon, he'd lose his mind or die of a heart attack. 

Jounouchi caught his gaze from between his legs and held the eye contact as he slowly and deliberately pressed a sloppy, open-mouthed kiss to a mark on his inner thigh. Kaiba jolted at the feeling, back arching off the sofa. A tongue followed the kiss, then a hint of teeth that had Kaiba squeezing his thighs around Jounouchi's head. A muffled moan vibrated down to the tips of his toes curled into Jounouchi's lower back. It took some effort to sit up and grasp each of Jounouchi's broad shoulders to reach the top edge of his marks. That drew a growl from the blond, who grabbed the top of each thigh and pried his legs apart. Made dizzy and vulnerable by the new position, Kaiba feebly fought the firm grip to no avail. 

He was lost. 

After years of failing to do so in the dueling arena, Jounouchi had finally beaten him. He conquered Kaiba with his hands and mouth, laying waste to reason as he worshiped every character inked into Kaiba's skin. Sucking until Kaiba stingingly ached, licking and swirling his tongue around the sore patch of skin like his saliva was a balm, occasionally peppering kisses before moving on to repeat the same series of actions on a new spot. Kaiba was nothing more than an extension of the lust coiled tight in his groin. Every fevered and impassioned touch to his marks brought him closer and closer to climax. 

"Jounouchi," he choked and scratched at the blonde's shoulders. "I'm going to—" 

Where Kaiba was a cruel and merciless man, Jounouchi was often the opposite. With one last, hard kiss against his marks, Jounouchi turned his head and devoured his cock. Kaiba howled and pumped his completion to the hot, slick mouth enveloping him. Jounouchi caught every last drop, sucking and coaxing with his sinful tongue. Then he sat back on his haunches and made a show of swallowing everything. Kaiba's cock twitched in time with Jounouchi's bobbing Adam's apple as he swallowed. 

Jounouchi's hooded gaze fell on his arousal, which had yet to soften despite the mind-blowing orgasm he just had. "I can't believe you're still hard." 

That made two of them. And Kaiba couldn't believe how badly he still yearned for Jounouchi's touch.

Jounouchi shot to his feet, and his clothed erection filled Kaiba's vision. Kaiba’s mouth ran dry, and he almost forgot to breathe when Jounouchi shucked his jeans and underwear. Naked. He was completely naked and bared to Kaiba's sight. He reached out and grasped Jounouchi's hard cock, causing the man to swear and his hips to stutter. It was firm and hot and made his stomach twist in want. 

"Should I...?" Kaiba trailed off, not sure how to proceed. 

Disappointment welled in him when Jounouchi unwound his hand from his cock. "Let's just stick with the easy stuff for tonight." 

Kaiba’s foggy brain struggled to figure out what constituted "the easy stuff." Touching, maybe a bit of oral sex. He doubted penetrative sex was on the list, but the mere question of which of them would do the giving and receiving in such a scenario made his head swim. Did he want that? Did he want to know what it felt like to have Jounouchi's thick cock inside him? Or how would it feel to pin his soulmate down and push his cock into that feverish hot body? 

Both possibilities felt equally thrilling in his current state. 

Before Kaiba could get too lost inside his thoughts, Jounouchi sank onto the couch and pulled him across his lap. The position left him with little option other than to straddle Jounouchi's legs. With a toothy grin that promised mischief, Jounouchi gripped his thighs again and aligned their cocks. Without thinking, Kaiba ground against the velvet hardness. 

"Fuck, just like that,” panted Jounouchi. “You're fucking amazing. Fucking gorgeous." 

The praise rushed through him as heady as the searing brand of Jounouchi's palm over his marks. While they rubbed against each other, Kaiba couldn't tear his eyes from the riveting vision of strong fingers stroking each straight line of characters. From the stark contrast of Jounouchi's tanned complexion against the milky white of his skin. Each sensual caress pulsed and thrummed through him, seemingly chipping away at his foundation until he was rebuilt anew by each subsequent touch. So transfixed with watching Jounouchi stroke his marks, he hadn't even noticed that the man had unbuttoned his shirt until he pitched forward to suck more bruises along his clavicle. 

With a shaky hand, he grasped the base of Jounouchi's skull, weaving his fingers into the soft strands, and guided Jounouchi to look at him. Jounouchi moaned softly, pink tongue darting out to wet his lips. Kaiba swooped forward, pushing his marks hard into Jounouchi's caress, and devoured his soulmate's mouth in a hungry kiss. Something wet splattered against his stomach and thighs while Jounouchi rocked and shuddered uncontrollably beneath him. 

"Yes," hissed Kaiba as he soon joined his soulmate and spilled his release between their overheated bodies. 

He collapsed against the other man's broad chest, burying his nose in Jounouchi's hair to inhale the sweet scent of his shampoo as he tried to catch his breath. Jounouchi's words were muffled against his sweaty skin, but nothing muted their affectionate quality as he laid more wet, affectionate kisses across Kaiba's shoulder. Kaiba hummed faintly and allowed Jounouchi to take his liberties. He felt boneless and safe in his embrace. 

"Hey." A nose affectionately nudged his jaw. Kaiba answered with a vague questioning noise, which prompted Jounouchi to chuckle. "You're close to done for the night, ain't you? I should get you into bed." 

Bed. A bed sounded marvelous, actually. 

At the feel of flannel against his skin, Kaiba pried his heavy eyelids open to see Jounouchi wipe their abdomens clean with the dishtowel from earlier. He made another noise of complaint when Jounouchi discarded the dirty towel on his floor. "Stop leaving your shit everywhere," he wanted to snipe, but words were beyond his grasp at this point.

His eyelids drooped again. Then he was weightless like he was floating. It took him several seconds to realize that the arms around him meant Jounouchi was carrying him. His suspicions were further confirmed when he heard the man mutter, "Damn, Kaiba. You need to eat more."

Kaiba scoffed. They would have to agree to disagree on that point.

The silence of his penthouse accompanied them as they made their way into the master bedroom. Jounouchi's steady footfall and his strong embrace almost lulled Kaiba into a full sleep before he even hit the sheets. When Jounouchi started to pull away after laying him on the mattress, Kaiba held tighter to the man in a silent invitation. 

When Jounouchi didn't immediately climb into bed, Kaiba exhaled a soft "stay."

"Okay," Jounouchi agreed, shaking his arms loose to finally join him under the covers.

Kaiba sidled up to the warm body, draping an arm across the trim waist and pressing his nose against the shoulder that pillowed his head. 

"Night, Kaiba." 

A soft touch, a tender kiss, teased at his hairline before he succumbed to sleep. 

-x-x-x-

Kaiba woke with a hangover drumming on the inside of his skull. It was not helped by the sunlight streaming through the uncovered windows of his bedroom. He turned and pushed his face deeper into his pillow, hoping for some small reprieve, when he realized he wasn't alone in bed. A warm and seemingly naked body rested next to him.

Last night. What happened last night?

A drinking party. Yuugi and Jounouchi arguing across the table from one another. Him taking Jounouchi home with him. Them doing "things" on his living room sofa.

He cracked open one eye to confirm his hazy recollection. There was Jounouchi, curled on his side to face Kaiba with eyes shut, dead to the world as a faint snore emanated from his parted lips. Even in slumber, he kept one hand possessively glued to Kaiba's left thigh.

Kaiba rolled away and promptly left the bed. 

In his ensuite, he groggily groped for aspirin, which he took with a full glass of water. Even without Jounouchi touching him, his marks hummed and tingled pleasantly. He examined himself in the mirror, noting every bruise and love bite that littered his body. They were especially numerous on his upper leg, where Jounouchi had lavished most of his attention last night. But no matter how dark they bloomed, the inky blackness of his soulmarks bled through in startling clarity. 

What had he been thinking? 

That had been the problem, right? He hadn't been thinking. He and Jounouchi were a volatile pair without adding alcohol into the mix. Like trying to douse a fire with nitroglycerin. But instead of trying to maim each other, they had slept together. A drunken fling. An indiscretion. A one-night stand. Whatever you called it, plenty of people did that every day. Jounouchi must not be a complete stranger to the phenomenon, even if Kaiba was. There was still no reason for him to lose his cool. 

But Kaiba had never been much like his peers in his age group. 

With a growl, he splashed his face with water. He remained hunched over the vanity, letting the water drip-dry when a hand startled him out of his daze. Lifting his head, he met Jounouchi's gaze through the mirror and stared at the naked man and at the hint of shimmering soulmarks swimming at the edge of his reflection.

"You okay?" asked Jounouchi hesitantly after dropping his hand to his side.

Kaiba cleared his throat. "I'm fine."

"Right, which is why you’re naked and shivering in the bathroom like a dumbass?"

He spun to insult the man in return, but Jounouchi caught him off-guard with a long kiss. Kaiba would hardly call it amazing. Not with the way that the stale sourness of last night's excessive drinking lingered on their tongues. Still, he thought about chasing for a second kiss. He forced himself to hold back instead. 

Last night should be a world away—a dream, or maybe even a nightmare. Either way, it was something Kaiba should let fade away in the cold and sober light of the day.

"Come back to bed," whispered Jounouchi against his lips as he grazed a thumb across the ridge of Kaiba's cheek. "It's Sunday. You can't possibly have work to do."

Kaiba always had work. It didn't matter what day of the week. More than ever, he was grateful to have it ground him in true reality. 

He stepped back, and Jounouchi’s hand slipped away. Without a word, he turned his back to his soulmate, entered the shower stall, and closed the glass door behind him. Kaiba wrenched the faucet on and bit his bottom lip to keep quiet when the cold water hit him. It ran down his face in chilly streams, plastering his bangs over his eyes. He closed his eyes and let the water run over him.

For what felt like hours, he had no idea if Jounouchi was still in the room or if he’d left.

“I’ll get out of your hair then,” Jounouchi eventually said. The bathroom acoustics and the shower spray distorted his voice enough that Kaiba couldn’t make out his tone.

Fighting the weight of his hangover and his sodden hair, he lifted his head and finally met Jounouchi’s eyes through the glass. But he said nothing to stay his soulmate or to turn him out faster. Everything stayed lodged in his closed throat—captured within his white-knuckled fist locked at his side. 

After another moment, Jounouchi sighed, shoulders sagging before he turned and swiftly left the room. Blinking rapidly to clear the droplets dripping into his eyes, Kaiba stared at his retreating back and the colorful soulmarks splashed across his skin. He forced himself not to think about how heated that skin had felt against the palm of his hands. How Jounouchi's muscles had quivered when he stroked the marks. 

Jounouchi was long gone by the time Kaiba emerged from the shower. Forcibly retreating into his work email, he drowned the bitterness on his tongue with a cocktail of vitamin B supplement drinks and a double espresso. 

It almost worked.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 因果因縁 （いんがいんねん） [ingainnen]   
> (n) (Buddhist) chain of cause and effect; karma

Christmas bled into New Year’s Eve, and in the blink of an eye, the calendar year was over. 

Kaiba took a few days off during that last week of December to spend time with Mokuba. Now that Mokuba was in university and they lived apart, they had to schedule a time to see each other. Brotherly bonding time nowadays meant holing up in Kaiba's penthouse, exclusively eating delivery from their favorite restaurants, watching movies, and gaming together. Otherwise, the holidays passed without anything of note happening. 

Which was fine. Because who else would Kaiba busy himself with at the end of the year?

Mokuba thought differently, though. "When are you going to take time to relax?" he sighed with a deep furrow in his brow. 

Kaiba gestured to the holographic sphere between them. "We're playing a game, aren't we?"

"No, this is play-testing." Mokuba reached through the hologram, scattering the light and distorting the monster's images, to tap on the tablet by Kaiba's elbow. "You're taking notes to give to Yuugi and the dev team. That makes this work."

Kaiba flipped his tablet over. "Happy?"

"I'd be a lot _happier_ if my favorite brother didn't insist on working himself to death."

"I'm your only brother."

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "Looks like it's going to stay that way despite the universe's best effort."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kaiba narrowed his eyes as he asked.

Before answering, Mokuba turned off the game device. Kaiba made a mental note of how long it took before the program responded to the input before Spherium's playfield finally vanished. He would have to talk to the engineering team about the latency. That long of a delay would be unacceptable in the final product. Without the hologram between them, Kaiba had little choice but to meet his brother's solemn eyes, which also carried sparks of disappointment.

"You have a soulmate, Nii-sama. You even found him," chided Mokuba gently. 

Kaiba fought a grimace. There was no way on earth Mokuba wouldn't confront him about what was said several weeks ago at the drinking party. It also made sense that his brother would wait until now, when it was just the two of them, to bring up the subject.

"It changes nothing, Mokuba," he recited.

Mokuba threw his hands in the air. "Okay, leaving aside the bit where you didn't _tell me_ , you don't actually believe that, do you? This is huge! Momentous. I'm pretty sure this is the definition of life-changing!"

"No." Kaiba gnashed his teeth. Tension built and pulsed between his temples. "You're blowing the matter out of proportion."

"No," argued Mokuba. "You're taking it for granted!"

Unbidden, his volume jumped several notches. "It's Jounouchi! What the hell am I supposed to do with that?"

Silence followed after Kaiba's outburst. He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut to fend off an impending headache and his brother's scrutiny.

Mokuba's next words were quieter and kinder. "Have you even talked to him recently? The least you can do is wish him a happy holiday." 

In fact, Kaiba had not communicated with Jounouchi since the day after the drinking party, which wasn't technically unusual as they sometimes went without speaking between each awkward visit. The fact that they kind of had drunken sex and Jounouchi had spent the night afterward didn't change what they were or weren't to each other. 

It simply didn't. 

Mokuba correctly interpreted his silence as a negative. His brother sighed. "Do you want to know what I think?" 

"I'm sure you'll tell me regardless," seethed Kaiba. 

"Jounouchi makes sense. I guess hindsight is 20-20 and all that, but it doesn't surprise me that he'd be your soulmate. Like, it's kinda perfect when you think about it." 

"I don't want to talk about this, Mokuba. Drop it. Please." His hand dropped from his face to grip the edge of the dining table instead.

"Well, tough luck. We're talking about it because it's obvious you're not talking to him. Nii-sama, think about it. You've always cared about Yuugi and everyone more than you've let on, which includes Jounouchi. I'm not suggesting you two should get involved like Yuugi and Atem are. But at the very least, Jounouchi can be a friend. I think he could be good for you."

Kaiba laughed and gaped at his little brother. "Did you already forget what was said at bonenkai? He's known it was me since high school. He kept it to himself for almost eight years. Isn't that proof enough of how little he values our so-called connection? I doubt he would have said anything if I hadn't figured it out—" 

"How long did it take for you to talk to him after you figured it out, Nii-sama?" asked Mokuba with narrowed eyes. 

"Two weeks."

"And you initiated the conversation?" 

His brother knew him too well. Kaiba stayed quiet as his gaze dropped to the dining table. 

Mokuba sighed. "That's what I thought. Maybe Jounouchi would have been less hesitant to talk to you if you ever softened your attitude toward him. Besides, Jounouchi's actions have always spoken louder than his words. He's always been there, and he's supported you when it counted, even during Battle City when you were at each other's necks. Even after high school ended, he still made a point of talking to you at tournaments and conventions. He was the one who told you that Yuugi was working on his own games!" 

Mokuba wasn't wrong. After high school ended, they could have easily avoided each other, even at major tournaments. Over the years, Jounouchi and Yuugi had continued to offer overtures of friendship. While Kaiba understood Yuugi's persistence, Jounouchi's motivations had always been harder to decipher. So maybe his brother was right. In his own way, Jounouchi had never stopped testing the waters of their connection and never stopped trying to bridge the gap between them. 

Mokuba allowed him to process his thoughts in peace for several moments before continuing, "I think Jounouchi'll stick around one way or another. But things would be a lot easier between you two if you accepted that. If you allow him to be a part of your life."

Later, after Mokuba had retired to the guest bedroom, Kaiba palmed his phone in one hand as he stared blankly at an email chain from Product. The team had it handled well enough. It didn’t require either his input or oversight. According to Mokuba, he wasn’t even supposed to be checking his work email, but his brother wasn’t present to scold him. 

Why was he even holding onto his phone? Everything he needed was available from his laptop in front of him, and if his brother wanted to get a hold of him, Mokuba would barge in without any issue. Not even Atem bothered to message or call him on his personal number unless absolutely necessary.

Was he waiting for Jounouchi? Waiting to hear from the man who had all but snubbed him after that drinking party? 

Pathetic.

Really, it was all Mokuba’s fault. If he’d kept his mouth shut about the unfortunate soulmate situation, Kaiba would have continued to relegate the “issue” to the bottom of the pile as a “non-issue.”

Fine. Let’s put it to rest once and for all.

Swiftly, he unlocked his phone and navigated to his messaging history with Jounouchi. He couldn’t remember when he’d first acquired Jounouchi’s number, but it had been well before he learned the man was his soulmate. Had they exchanged it in the aftermath of some tournament where Jounouchi had definitely placed below him? Or it was more likely that Jounouchi had foisted the contact info on him, and the reason Kaiba didn’t immediately delete it so he’d have the caller ID to warn him when Jounouchi did try to contact him.

Without meaning to, he began reading through their conversations in reverse chronological order. The thread was a chronicle of, well, their lives for the last eight months. A dumb joke from Jounouchi here, a comment about Jounouchi’s recent brand endorsement spot there, several rather lengthy back-and-forth speculation about how Atem had returned, and snapshots as they went about their everyday lives. The photos were sometimes sprinkled between exchanges hashing out the details of meeting up, images showcasing the difference between the two beer options or boxed meals Jounouchi was considering at the store. At some point, whenever they encountered an ad campaign featuring the other out in the wild, they’d snap a shot and send it with some comment—sometimes critical, but often almost-teasing more than anything.

They didn’t talk every day, but a week rarely passed without them matching wits—or trying to in Jounouchi’s case. They saw each other in person at least once a month. Sometimes more in the wake of Atem’s return, which saw Kaiba attending more group gatherings than he’d like to admit.

Given all this, an outsider blind to their previous dynamics might even designate them as friends.

Kaiba scrolled back to the bottom of the thread. No new messages since early December—nothing since that ill-advised drinking party. He stared, either half-expecting to see the little typing bubble pop up or maybe even trying to manifest it into existence. 

Nothing. Just dead and utter silence.

He tapped into the text box before coming to his senses, closing the app, and decisively placing the phone facedown on his desk. If Jounouchi intended to snub him, fine, but Kaiba still had his pride.

-x-x-x-

More time in the form of days, then weeks slipped by without a word from Jounouchi. Yet, that didn't stop Kaiba from checking every time his phone made a sound. 

In the meanwhile, he contemplated blocking Jounouchi's number. 

He didn't, but he came close on several late nights at the office. 

Mokuba became too busy with university to continue snooping on Kaiba's lack of a personal life. Instead, Kaiba traded one nosy busybody at home for two meddlers who happened to be each other’s soulmate at work. 

The good thing about Atem being his employee was he could always strong-arm him into a game of Duel Monsters at his convenience. The Spherium team had long gotten used to the CEO appearing out of nowhere to whisk the junior programmer away without warning. 

(Kaiba had beaten him once in the beginning, but it hardly counted when his brain was still scrambling to recall old memories. Tarek had apparently been a piss-poor duelist.)

On the flip side of the same coin, Atem working for him placed both him and Yuugi in the same room as Kaiba about once a week. They mostly talked about Spherium, which was approaching the end of its closed beta period. The two were tolerable when discussing business, but they rarely stayed on topic for the entirety of the meeting. 

"So, the 25th is coming up next week." 

Kaiba tensed, not buying Yuugi's nonchalant tone for even a microsecond. "What about it?" he snapped. 

Atem heaved a deep sigh as Yuugi stared pointedly back and never broke eye contact with Kaiba. 

"January 25th—" Yuugi elaborated like he was speaking to a young child. "—is Jounouchi-kun's birthday." 

Kaiba gritted his teeth. "I fail to see how that concerns me."

Yuugi's glower deepened. He must be practicing because there was the slightest hint of malice and heat behind the stare. "Jou-nou-chi-kun, you know, your soulmate." 

He thinned his lips but said nothing. With arms crossed over his chest, he returned the glare a thousand-fold. 

"Yuugi, we talked about this." Atem reached over and took his partner’s hand. "We should stay out of this. They'll figure it out on their own." 

"When?" exclaimed Yuugi. "In another eight years? They're both too stubborn to work it out ‘on their own.’" 

Atem chuckled. "Wouldn't that make them perfect for each other then?" 

"Not funny, Atem! I don't like standing around and watching my friends suffer."

There it was—the magic word that vaporized the last of Kaiba’s dwindling patience. "Seeing as this conversation doesn't require my input, I invite you to take it elsewhere," he growled. His tone brooked no further argument.

Unfortunately, that stopped having an effect on Yuugi years ago, and he merely dug his heels in harder. "You're not getting rid of me that easily." 

If Kaiba called security to remove Yuugi from his office, it would cause a stir. If he handled it poorly, it could have adverse effects on Spherium's launch. None of that changed how sorely he still wanted to do it, though. 

Why were all the people in his life more concerned with him getting along with his soulmate than the soulmate in question? 

"What do you expect me to say? That I'm _happy_ to find my soulmate? While I'm glad to not have to suffer through getting new marks, this changes nothing between Jounouchi and myself. You said it yourself, Yuugi! He kept the truth to himself for years. You yourself said he was trying to punish me somehow." Kaiba laughed. But whether it was at the absurdity of the idea or its truth, he couldn’t say. 

Yuugi jumped to his feet. "He was angry. Scared! Can you blame him? You two didn't have the best history. Do you even remember the things you used to say to Jounouchi-kun?"

Something inside of Kaiba snapped. "If you think me a monster, why are you pushing us together? Wouldn't it be better if we stayed away from each other?" 

Kaiba was no stranger to the idea that he hurt others. He understood himself to be quite practiced at it. He had maybe not been gleeful about his ability to inflict pain in the past, but he did relish the power it gave him over others. That streak of raw, festering cruelty had abated with age, but it was never truly gone. Like the tide, it ebbed and flowed in him at the gravitational mercy of some invisible, mental satellite.

So really, it shouldn't surprise him that his soulmate would be capable of cruelty as well. 

Maybe the marks were less about identifying one's predetermined soulmate and more about karmic retribution. Call it whatever you want: _innen_ , karma, causality. Particular Buddhist schools of thought espoused it and went as far as to call the phenomenon ‘mirrored souls.’ Good people like Yuugi found their perfect match that returned all their pure affections and love. Cruel and broken people like him and Jounouchi became locked in a cycle of more hurt and pain. 

"You can’t blame Jounouchi-kun for being scared," said Atem quietly, but it was enough to disrupt the growing argument between Kaiba and Yuugi.

Kaiba's thigh ached. He ignored it. Psychosomatic, he told himself. 

Atem continued, "But probably not for the reasons you believe. Did you know his parents bore each other's marks?"

That did catch Kaiba by surprise. No, he hadn’t known. It wasn’t as if they spoke extensively about their families or their childhoods with one another. Kaiba had picked up on several hints over the years, just as surely as Jounouchi had done the same about him. None of it bore outright discussion, though.

Betrayal flashed across Yuugi's face. "Wait! When did Jounouchi-kun tell you about that? Why don't I know?" 

Atem's gaze was downcast for several seconds, his brows furrowed with shame. But he rallied himself and looked up again to meet Yuugi's eyes. "It was in America. After I lost you to the Orichalchos, Aibou." 

"Oh..." 

"I was despondent. I felt so lost without you. And angry. How could I have done that to you if we were soulmates? I couldn't sleep or rest without your presence." 

"Atem. It's okay." Yuugi squeezed Atem's dark hand. 

"Jounouchi-kun found me sitting on a rock a bit away from the camper. He kept me company, and I told him all of my fears. About how I was no good for you, Yuugi. About how I couldn't possibly be your soulmate after doing something so stupid and cruel. That was when he told me about his parents. They had married young after solving their marks and had Jounouchi within their first year of marriage. Several years later, Shizuka was born. The way Jounouchi-kun told the story, they were happy at first, even if they struggled financially from time to time. Then came the '98 financial crisis, and Jounouchi-kun's father lost his factory job. It caused the pre-existing cracks in his parents’ relationship to worsen. His father took refuge in the bottle, which made it harder to find and keep a job. It was a vicious cycle until his mother took his sister and walked out."

"Is there a point to this sob story?" snarled Kaiba. 

"The _point_ ," emphasized Atem with a quick glare. "Is that a relationship between soulmates requires work and understanding like one between non-soulmates. He said that as long as I cared about Yuugi, as long as I didn't give up and worked to get him back, that was all that mattered. The question of whether or not we were soulmates or made for each other became secondary. "

"So he's a hypocrite, good to know," Kaiba sneered.

"He called you, remember? After I lost that duel, Jounouchi-kun called _you_ because he believed you'd help. Time and time again, he's reached out to you as both an ally and as a friend. He's done exactly what he told me to do for Yuugi: to keep caring and to keep trying. What have you ever done in return except spur him?” 

The silence hung between them—sharp and damning. The truth was Kaiba couldn’t even send the first message.

“Maybe Jounouchi-kun’s not the only one who’s afraid.”

Kaiba’s hackles rose, swift as a bear trap closing on some hapless prey animal’s limb. “Excuse me?”

Atem graced him with a look that seemed to say he knew. Knew precisely the depth of Kaiba’s inadequacies. “Do everyone a favor, Kaiba, cut him loose for good if you’ve already written him off. It helps no one to drag this out. I'll walk you down to the lobby, Yuugi." With a king’s grace, he rose from his seat and gently helped his soulmate to his feet.

Kaiba remained in his chair, glaring at the pair of soulmates as they crossed his office. Atem's hand settled on the small of Yuugi's back as he opened the door and held it open. Smiling, Yuugi thanked Atem after touching a spot high on his left sleeve. Were it not the dead of winter, the two would be wearing short sleeves and flaunting their matched soulmarks. 

The words left his mouth before he could stop them. The hesitance audible in the question must have made Yuugi and Atem pause on the threshold. "Have you touched each other's marks?"

The pair shared an indecipherable look before nodding in unison. 

"What does it feel like?"

For a moment, it looked like they might not answer. Or Atem might tease him. Then Yuugi spoke so softly that Kaiba had to strain his ears to catch the response.

"Safe. Cherished."

"A sense of belonging," added Atem.

Kaiba pursed his lips. Those were not the answers he'd expected. If they felt anything at all, most people described the physical sensation itself: tingling, hot, or electric. Atem and Yuugi described emotions, all useless comparisons to Kaiba's jumbled experience. Because outside of the pleasure and the gentle warmth Kaiba knew better than to trust wholly, the most identifiable feeling had been the overwhelming loss of control and the touch of fear that accompanied it.

Had Jounouchi, his mirrored soul, felt the same?

-x-x-x-

After nightfall, Kaiba made his way to his soulmate's apartment. Having arrived uninvited and unannounced, he lingered at Jounouchi's front door for several long minutes. He could turn on his heel and leave. Jounouchi would never even know he'd darkened his doorway. 

But Kaiba was no coward.

No matter what Atem said or implied.

With a clenched fist, he banged twice on the wood. Nothing happened for several long moments. Jounouchi wasn't scheduled to be away for any tournaments, but he could have gone out for the night. Unlike Kaiba, he had a social life and a plethora of friends. He had so many damn people in his life that he hardly needed or wanted Kaiba's company. 

As he raised his hand to knock again, the door cracked ajar, and one brown eye peered out of the opening. It widened in surprise. 

"Kaiba?" 

Kaiba cleared his throat before asking, "May I come in?"

"Uh, sure, I guess."

Jounouchi fumbled with his deadbolt and slowly opened his door. They stared at each other for several seconds before Jounouchi stepped back to grant him entrance. As Kaiba passed him, he couldn't help but note the faint flush dusting Jounouchi's cheeks or how his sweaty bangs were plastered flat over his brow. Even his neck appeared damp with sweat. 

"So what do you want? It's kinda late for a social call." After the briefest moment of eye contact, Jounouchi quickly dropped his gaze and shuffled nervously. 

"Am I interrupting something?" he asked, looking up from removing his shoes. 

"What?" 

"You're sweating." 

For some reason, Jounouchi turned redder, and the color bled down into his collar. Was it strong enough to also change his marks' colors? 

"Oh, I was... I was scrubbing the tub was all. Y'know, cleaning for New Year’s." Jounouchi’s eyes darted away, then back again. 

A blatant lie—New Year’s was almost two weeks ago. 

"I can come back another time." Now that he was alone with Jounouchi in his apartment, he was at a loss for words. 

"No, really, it's fine. So, it's been a while since we saw each other," muttered Jounouchi with his eyes glued to Kaiba's sock-clad feet. "How've you been? You have a good holiday?"

Relegated to small talk, fucking fabulous. But seeing as Jounouchi was similarly on edge, he went along with it. "It was fine. Mokuba stayed over for a while when his classes were on break." 

Jounouchi rocked sideways, continually shifting his weight from one foot to the other. His gaze kept darting between Kaiba’s face and his feet. "Cool, you do anything special for Christmas?"

He swallowed a snort. What an abysmally transparent way for Jounouchi to dig about Kaiba's current lack of a love or social life. "No, I only saw Mokuba over the break. And you? Did you do or see anyone 'special' for Christmas?" Kaiba mocked, returning the favor. 

"Shit, Kaiba, you don't gotta be an asshole about it!" Jounouchi flushed an angry red. 

Kaiba met Jounouchi's outburst of frustration with a stone-faced expression. He had nothing to feel guilty about. Kaiba wasn't the one to drunkenly coax them into bed and then not— He sucked in a sharp breath and ignored how his pulse thumped in his ears. Mokuba and Atem's insistence that Jounouchi was invested in some sort of relationship with him echoed in his head. But the words rang hollow.

“Fine, whatever, you know where the door is. I got better things to do than deal with you,” grumbled Jounouchi tried to brush past Kaiba.

Without thinking, Kaiba caught Jounouchi’s elbow and held fast. “Don’t walk away from me.”

Jounouchi glared. “This is my apartment. I can do whatever I want. Look, you’re the one who showed up out of the blue and won’t tell me what you want. Newsflash, Kaiba, the world doesn’t revolve around you. No matter what your huge ass ego tells ya.”

“What do _you_ want, Jounouchi?” he hissed, tightening his grip on his soulmate’s arm. “You force your way into my life. My—my home. Then my bed. Then not even a miserable message. If it’s some meaningless one-night-stand to you, at least have the guts to tell me to my face. Instead of being a coward—”

“Oh, you don’t get to put that all on me, asshole. Like you don’t have a phone or something. You know, that device your company happens to make. The one where you can text people and ask ‘em questions or check in. Or better yet, call before you show up _unannounced_ at 10PM on a Wednesday night!” shouted Jounouchi in return. 

A hand shot out and shoved Kaiba back, but he didn’t release his soulmate. He took a step closer. He’d force an answer from Jounouchi if he had to until he was damn well satisfied by it. 

“You asshole,” Jounouchi swore. “You don’t get to do that. Not to me. You don’t get to act nice when it’s convenient for you and then give me the cold shoulder because it, I dunno, gets too real for your stupid emotionally stunted ass. You don’t get to just announce you’re my soulmate to all my friends without talking to me first and make me think that maybe you give a damn. That you want me until you suddenly don’t! I’m tired of it. I’m sick of your hot and cold bullshit! And I sure as hell don't have to take it.”

Growling low in his throat, Kaiba yanked Jounouchi forward and caused him to stumble. Jounouchi’s struggle only intensified. Fresh sweat trickled down the side of his flush face, his hand fisted in Kaiba’s sleeve in an attempt to dislodge his grip. Pull and push. A tug-o-war. Were they less than a minute from breaking into a real fight? Like that time Jounouchi had nearly clobbered him in his demand to see the marks several months ago in this very living room?

Except Jounouchi was trying to break away. 

His soulmate had never shied away from picking a fight, verbal or physical. Something was different tonight. Kaiba pressed further into Jounouchi’s space, and his soulmate jolted like he’d been shocked.

The realization struck Kaiba like lightning. Though he'd been relatively inebriated, he still remembered several details from that night after the drinking party—the way Jounouchi's pupils dilated with lust, the musky scent of his sweat mixed with arousal, and the deep red he'd flushed when Kaiba explored his marks. Much like he currently was.

Like opposing magnetic poles, Kaiba drifted closer until they touched chest-to-chest. Jounouchi's grasp on his elbow only tightened as if he wanted to pull Kaiba closer yet. His breath ran ragged, causing his Adam's apple to bob erratically with each heaving gulp. 

"You're aroused," Kaiba whispered against the shell of his soulmate's ear, earning him a full-body shudder that shook Jounouchi's frame. 

For a moment, it seemed as if Jounouchi might deny the claim. He didn’t, though. "Yeah, like I’ve told you. I think you're hot as hell." 

"We were arguing. Why—" 

"Shit, lemme just lay it out for you. You think I didn't call you because I wanted nothing to do with you. Maybe even forget that night. Fuck, Kaiba, I haven't thought about anything else since then. You want proof? Fine, here!"

Jounouchi's grip transferred from his elbow to his wrist before guiding Kaiba's hand to the back of his low-riding jeans. He shoved the captured hand below the waistband, and Kaiba startled when he realized Jounouchi wasn't wearing underwear underneath. Instead, his fingertips met Jounouchi's sweat-slicked skin and the wetter cleft between his ass. 

Kaiba bit back a groan. Lube, Jounouchi's ass was drenched with lube. 

After releasing his wrist, Jounouchi grabbed the front of his shirt, simultaneously dragging him closer and pushing against the fingers spreading his butt cheeks apart. " _That's_ what I was doing before you showed up. I wasn't cleaning. I was fingers deep inside my ass, thinking about you." 

Kaiba dipped his hand lower, palming the delicious curve of his soulmate's ass before using his index finger to stroke the wet entrance. His digit sank down to the first knuckle in one smooth push. 

Jounouchi keened and clenched around him. "Yeah, like that." 

Shakily, he plunged a second finger into Jounouchi. Fuck, Jounouchi wasn't lying. He was wet and stretched to accept Kaiba's fingers without an iota of resistance. Jounouchi collapsed against his chest, and Kaiba wound his other arm around his waist to keep them both upright. Against his thigh, Jounouchi rutted a jerky rhythm to Kaiba fingering him. His breath came hot and fast against Kaiba's throat. 

In his mind's eye, Kaiba imagined how painstakingly Jounouchi had been touching himself before he knocked on his apartment door. Had he been flat on his back with his knees drawn up to his chest? Or had he positioned himself on his hands and knees while he fucked his own hand and imagined it was Kaiba's cock? 

"Did you get close?" Kaiba asked, unable to control the warble in his voice. 

Jounouchi lifted his head, brown eyes flashing ferociously as he snarled, "Yeah. I was so fucking close to coming before you started banging on my door. But I had to _stop_ and come out here to deal with you while my ass was leaking lube." He yanked Kaiba's face down to meet his and meshed their mouths and tongues together in a wet, open-mouthed kiss. "God, weeks without a peep outta your dumb ass, and you show up at the exact second I'm trying to get off. You're a real fucking piece of work, Kaiba."

Blood rushed south, and his head spun from the drop in blood pressure. Without meaning to, Kaiba jabbed his fingers deep into Jounouchi and bumped a spot that wrenched a strangled moan from him. He crooked his fingers and repeated the motion until Jounouchi could no longer stand on his own. 

"Oh, God," moaned Jounouchi as his muscles rhythmically fluttered and contracted around Kaiba's three fingers. "Fuck, I'm getting close again. Don't stop." 

Kaiba's hand had begun to cramp, and he was starting to feel the strain of supporting Jounouchi's full weight. Glancing over his shoulder, he mapped the safest route to reach Jounouchi's living room sofa. With some careful maneuvering, he managed to bring them to the furniture and carefully pulled Jounouchi into straddling his lap. Kaiba's erection pushed against the teeth of his trouser zipper, but he ignored it in favor of unbuttoning Jounouchi's jeans and pushing them onto the floor. While he worked on undressing Jounouchi's lower half, Jounouchi tore off his shirt and threw it somewhere behind the sofa. His naked erection rubbed against Kaiba's button-down as he impaled himself on Kaiba's hand. 

After issuing another feral snarl, Jounouchi pinned his shoulders against the couch and kissed him with abandon, snaking his tongue between his lips to twist around Kaiba's. Kaiba met each kiss with equal fervor, his hand never slowing as he worked Jounouchi into obnoxiously loud ecstasy. Jounouchi's neighbors down the hallway would hear him at this volume. The idea didn't give rise to shame inside Kaiba. He relished it along with the way Jounouchi tried to devour him. 

Without thinking, he pressed a palm flat against the small of Jounouchi's back. Jounouchi's entire body seized and shook, clamping so hard around Kaiba that his fingers went numb.

Throwing his head back and disturbed his already precarious balancing act across Kaiba's lap, Jounouchi cried, "Oh shit, oh shit. Not the marks."

It took Kaiba several moments to figure out what Jounouchi meant. Jounouchi's soulmarks, he was touching them as he fingerfucked his soulmate. Kaiba still remembered all too clearly the intense sensation of Jounouchi's mouth sucking and kissing his marks. No wonder Jounouchi now shook like a leaf as tears glistened in the corner of his eyes. He squeezed Kaiba so tight that he couldn't move his fingers outside of continually stroking Jounouchi's prostate. Kaiba dragged his hand up the marks along his back, skimming his nails over his arched spine. 

Jounouchi howled, twisting and contorting to escape Kaiba's hold, but he held fast with one hand pressed between Jounouchi's shoulder blades. As he convulsed, his climax splattered across Kaiba's shirt in one wet mess. Mesmerized, Kaiba continued to stroke Jounouchi's sweet spot and his marks in tandem, milking every drop from Jounouchi's twitching erection.

Jounouchi hiccuped. "It's too much. Kaiba—"

He swallowed Jounouchi's complaints and objections with a hungry kiss. His body burned up. Watching Jounouchi orgasm so completely and painfully sent fire and lightning coursing through his veins. Jounouchi felt so divine around his fingers. What would he feel like around his cock? Kaiba sucked on Jounouchi's tongue and pressed his hand hard against his back like he wanted to leave an imprint over the marks.

Still shivering and writhing, Jounouchi clawed at his shoulders. If Kaiba wasn't still wearing his shirt, Jounouchi would have left angry red scratches across his skin. Instead, he pulled hard enough to pop loose the top four buttons of Kaiba's shirt. He let loose a high-pitched whine that Kaiba readily swallowed between his lips, marveling in how the sound vibrated into the hollow of his chest and strummed at his heart. 

The anger in them—between them—had fizzled out. Maybe it would return later. Kaiba wouldn’t be surprised if it did. But for now, his feelings toward his soulmate softened, changing his firm and punishing strokes and touches into gentle caresses. In return, the noises that Jounouchi made against their besotted mouths quieted, though they became no less breathless. Jounouchi stopped trying to push him away, stopped trying to get away. Instead, he crumpled into Kaiba’s arms and stayed there.

Slowly, Kaiba drew back, ignoring the string of saliva that stretched between their mouths. Taking some pity on his soulmate, he eased his fingers out of his slippery hole and rested both hands on his buttocks, careful not to graze the soulmarks. Blue clashed with dark, glassy brown, and Jounouchi’s eyelids fluttered shut. The soft lidded motion echoed the flop of Kaiba’s stomach—the skipped beat of his heart.

“I do want you,” he admitted. “If I didn’t want you, I wouldn’t come back here, time and time again. I don’t understand it. I don’t know exactly what it is that I’m looking for.”

He didn’t know how to explain it. Couldn’t explain the tidal forces he felt binding them—magnetic, gravitational, but not predetermined or predestined. Perhaps it was more apt to describe it like a string between them, where every choice they made tied a new knot that shortened the distance between them—again and again, tangled and knotted until they were right there next to each other.

Shaky and sweaty palms cupped his face. “Kaiba, it’s okay. I get it. It’s complicated. I want you too. Not because some marks says I should. It’d be easier for us if that was all it was.” Jounouchi laughed shakily and nearly toppled off Kaiba’s lap.

Quickly, Kaiba readjusted his grip to Jounouchi’s waist to better support him, inadvertently grazing the marks simultaneously. Jounouchi’s weight landed like a stone, leaving a growing damp spot on Kaiba's trouser where he sat. Kaiba tensed, prepared to pull Jounouchi onto the couch should the touch prove too much, but his soulmate merely moaned and slid closer. Curious reaction, but it wasn’t as if Jounouchi always reacted like someone was trying to skin him when Kaiba touched his marks. 

Proceeding cautiously, he skimmed one lone finger along the length of Jounouchi’s spine. Hot, damp skin trembled under his fingertip. Another sweet moan bled out between Jounouchi’s pink lips. When Kaiba reached down to palm his spent cock, his soulmate arched into the touch, puffing out his toned chest like a preening bird. 

“More,” Jounouchi demanded, low and lusty. “I want you. I want you inside me.”

He dragged his soulmate close for another kiss. “Okay. I want that too.”

Jounouchi drew away, flashing a quicksilver grin before his trembling hands dove for Kaiba’s belt. Kaiba met him there, fumbling to unzip his fly and relieve the pressure on his insistent arousal. Jounouchi cursed and snarled, but he eventually worked the belt open and single-handedly yanked it free from the loops. The leather hit the floor at the foot of the couch with a deafening clink.

“Let me up,” Kaiba said, both impatient and nervous for what laid ahead. After discarding his soiled and torn shirt, Kaiba stood and hooked his thumbs into his waistband before freezing and glancing down at his naked soulmate sprawled across the couch. An undeniable bolt of lust shot through his body. “Should we move to the bedroom? What about condoms?”

Biting his bottom lip, Jounouchi peered up at him with dark, round eyes. Kaiba was mesmerized by how Jounouchi languidly swept his hand down his abdomen, brushing over a bed of curls, to grasp his cock. “Here’s as good as anywhere, Kaiba. All I’ve got is just more lube. I don’t have condoms. Haven’t seen anyone else in a long while. Unless you got one....”

He shook his head. “We talked about this. I don’t— I haven’t—”

“It’s fine, then. You don’t need one.”

“Jounouchi—”

“Please, Kaiba, just get a move on it. If you don’t mind me for your first time, I want you. I want you, Kaiba. Don’t make me wait any longer.”

He wanted that too. He wanted Jounouchi for his first.

“Okay.”

He shoved his pants and underwear off before clambering back onto the couch. Using a firm grip on Kaiba’s shoulder, Jounouchi guided him back into a seated position. Before Kaiba could say or do anything, Jounouchi climbed atop him and impaled himself in one stroke. 

"Shit," Kaiba cried. 

“This is even better than I dreamed,” Jounouchi whimpered. He rode Kaiba, slow but determined at first, sweat pouring down his chest and back as he ground himself on Kaiba's cock and rubbed against the marks on his thigh. 

Jounouchi was beyond anything Kaiba could have imagined. He felt like he was made for Kaiba. A perfect fit. Sinfully tight and warm. Obscenely slick. Each wet slap of skin rang in his ears, causing the coiled spring in his groin to wind tighter. He could already feel the beginnings of an orgasm building within him. If he didn’t take his mind off how incredible Jounouchi felt squeezing around his cock, it’d be over soon.

Kaiba planted both hands flat on Jounouchi's back. Once again, his soulmate jerked and gave a wanton cry the moment his fingers made contact with the marks. His body shook as if he'd been electrocuted. Then he lightened his touch, deliberately softened the intention behind it. He wanted Jounouchi to feel good—as good as the way he made Kaiba feel at that moment. The transformation was almost instantaneous when his soulmate melted into his hands rather than trying to escape his grip. Jounouchi was boneless in his arms, more squirming than moving, leaving Kaiba in control of their pace as he bucked and pulled Jounouchi up and down on his cock.

“You’re quite a sight like this,” Kaiba whispered.

Lolling his head back and forth, Jounouchi blinked owlishly like he couldn’t understand what was being said. Maybe he couldn’t. He wore a blissed-out expression that Kaiba had never seen before. Kaiba massaged a shoulder blade, and Jounouchi’s breath hitched so sharply that the sound whistled. 

“What do you feel when I touch your marks?” asked Kaiba urgently. 

Jounouchi forced a choked noise past his lips before he could speak again. “Good. Just so fuckin’ good. Sometimes, it’s too much. Like you— like you’re ripping into me. But when it’s not like that, it’s amazing. Like I’m floating. Or that feeling after I’ve cummed except it doesn’t fade or end.”

He peered down at Jounouchi’s cock, now flush and full again, bobbing with each thrust. “Do you want more?”

“Yes,” Jounouchi hissed. 

Kaiba quickly pushed Jounouchi off and flipped him onto his stomach. He studied the shimmering soulmarks laid bare before him. Jounouchi’s scarlet blush indeed gave his marks a reddish tint. Carefully gripping one of Jounouchi’s hips in each hand, Kaiba grazed his thumbs over the marks’ bottom edge. 

“Kaiba,” came a plaintive cry muffled by a cushion.

Pressing onward in his exploration, he leaned forward to press his lips to the top knob of Jounouchi’s spine. This drew a faint hiss from the man beneath him, but the moment passed, and Jounouchi returned to his previous pliant state. Next, he drew his tongue across an illustrated wave line, tracing its undulating curves with broad strokes. Salt was the only flavor he tasted, but Jounouchi’s skin glided smooth and firm under his tongue. His mouth and tongue continued to map the divots and hills of Jounouchi’s upper back. To chart the thick black outline of his ukiyo-e-inspired soulmarks—notched longbow, flared fan, the cresting waves of the Seto Inland Sea, and the distant mountainous coastline. Before long, his soulmate started trembling anew, pushing up on his hands and knees to rut his backside against Kaiba’s hard cock. Unable to help himself, he rocked forward to rub himself between the slick cleft of Jounouchi’s ass.

“Stop that! It’s like you’re fucking edging me,” Jounouchi whined. “Fuck me. Just fuck me already. Put your dick in me and—”

This time, Kaiba didn’t blunt his intentions—didn't dull his wild hunger—as he planted a palm flat over his soulmate’s spine and shoved him into the cushions. Jounouchi was still crying from the intense sensation when Kaiba painstakingly plunged back into the spasming body pinned beneath him. Nostril flared, his breath stampeded out of him. His body shook as he bottomed out inside Jounouchi’s heat. While his chest heaved, he held himself still and fought the urge to pound into his soulmate.

"Fuck, yes! So deep. You're gonna make me cum again!" Jounouchi desperately rocked back and forth like he couldn't decide if he wanted more or to push Kaiba off.

Kaiba leaned forward and plastered his chest to Jounouchi's back, groaning as his soulmate clamped down at the skin-to-skin contact. Reflexively, he dug his fingers and nails into Jounouchi’s waist. "I don’t know how long I can last like this, Jounouchi. I’ve never—"

“I’m close. Just move, Kaiba. God, just move already!”

Kaiba pulled back and gave an experimental thrust that jostled Jounouchi’s body. Shit, his soulmate was so unbelievably tight and hot. In response, Jounouchi pushed his ass higher to meet Kaiba’s grind. 

Kaiba tried again. “Like that?”

Nodding vigorously, Jounouchi gripped the sofa arm with white-knuckled fists and keened like an animal in heat. That was all the permission Kaiba needed. He drove into his soulmate with full, harsh jabs, grinding purposefully when he accidentally found an angle that made Jounouchi moan and tighten before he collapsed onto the sofa, lost in ecstasy and pleasure.

Shakily, Kaiba pulled back and feasted on his soulmate's marks again. The waters of the Seto Inland Sea no longer seemed placid, it's mirror-like surface disturbed by the roil of Jounouchi’s muscles quivering under his skin. 

Everything about tonight felt the opposite of the one they shared at his place. Whereas everything then had been hazy and soft-focused, lending itself to an atmosphere both tender and reverent, the world was now dangerously sharp. Every sensation hit with the force of a tsunami wave and made it hard to catch his breath. Everything narrowed down to how Jounouchi swore and shook underneath him. How Kaiba’s impending orgasm steadily built with each thrust and rock of their hips.

One thing remained the same, though—Kaiba's hunger, ravenous and bottomless, driving him to give as much pleasure as he took. 

With one hand steadying Jounouchi's hip, he moved the other hand between his shoulders blades and bore down with his entire weight. Jounouchi screamed and thrashed. His back rippled as he came with violent shudders, squeezing around Kaiba's cock as erratically as a heart attack. Jounouchi's second orgasm cascaded into him, causing the tension building in his groin to snap. Gasping and panting, he continued fucking his soulmate as he emptied everything he had into him.

The last of Kaiba's strength fled, and he collapsed on top of Jounouchi, who was mewling from overstimulation. It made Kaiba want to keep fucking him even though they were both spent. 

When his racing heart finally started to calm, he peeled himself from Jounouchi’s soaked back. Kaiba’s chest was sticky with sweat—his own and Jounouchi’s, which his lower half was a mess of lube, perspiration, and semen. Jounouchi hadn’t fared much better. When he tiredly flopped over, streaks of cum were drying up and down his stomach and inner thighs. Yet as he took in Jounouchi’s glassy but satisfied expression, a feeling, less foreign than it had been in months past, brushed against the insides of his rib cage.

“Kaiba?” Jounouchi asked blearily. It felt like there was so much more spoken than the two syllables of his name.

Moving without thinking, he leaned down and kissed his soulmate gently. Jounouchi sighed softly between their joined lips as his fingers found their way to the nape of Kaiba's neck. Kaiba shivered as his skin crawled and tingled under his soulmate's caresses. 

He drew back, and Jounouchi's hands fell away. “I should help you to bed,” he muttered. 

It only seemed right to return the courtesy when Jounouchi had previously done the same for him. Because the mess notwithstanding, Jounouchi looked like he didn’t have the strength to stand on his own. That admittedly gave Kaiba an almost twisted sense of pride. He had done this to Jounouchi, reduced that usual bluster into boneless compliance. 

As he heaved Jounouchi to his feet, he was surprised by how warm the other man was. Not a feverish heat that would have had Kaiba worried for his health, but like the warmth of slipping into a relaxing bath after a long day. Together, they stumbled through the apartment. He soon discovered that Jounouchi was too sensitive to have his marks touched in any way after he was almost thrown into a wall when he tried to press a hand to the small of his back to guide him forward. But they eventually made it to the bedroom, where he carefully lowered the man into his bed.

As Kaiba hovered beside the bed, he realized this was the first time he’d been in Jounouchi’s bedroom despite his many visits. He couldn’t bring himself to look at his soulmate’s most arguably intimate space. He didn’t feel like he belonged here. 

“Was that everything you wanted?” he asked quietly and so unlike himself.

Lying on his back on top of the covers, Jounouchi squeezed his eyes shut. His Adam’s apple bobbed furiously as he swallowed. “Yeah, I guess.”

Kaiba couldn’t tell if they’d made a new knot in the string between them or undone a previous one. Either way, it wasn’t the sort of thing he wanted to figure out naked and sticky.

Something snagged his fingers as he turned to leave. His gaze tracked the length of Jounouchi’s hand and arm, back up to his face looking up in askance. “Stay? You can sleep here tonight.”

Kaiba cast a skeptical glance at the bed in question. It didn’t look large enough to fit two full-grown men comfortably. He shouldn’t. He had work in the morning, and he would need a new outfit after what happened to today’s clothing. But one look at Jounouchi’s expressions as they flipped between apprehensive and stubborn caused him to cave.

“I’ll be right back,” he promised and slipped out of the room. 

Soon, he returned with a moist towel taken from Jounouchi’s bathroom after having wiped himself clean. He dropped it on Jounouchi’s dozing face and ordered, “Clean up. I’m not sleeping next to a sticky mess.”

Jounouchi stuck a tongue at him. “Yet you enjoyed making the mess in the first place.”

Kaiba turned his back to hide the red rising in his face. He swiftly crossed the room to turn off the lights, plunging the space into a soft-edged and almost peaceful umbra. On his return trip, he stepped on the discarded towel that Jounouchi had used to clean himself. Ugh, typical. He kicked the flannel aside and approached the edge of the bed. Jounouchi’s shadowed form was huddled on the far side of the mattress that sat flushed against a bedroom wall, leaving space for Kaiba to join him. His blond hair tossed askew over a pillow gleamed under the moonlight that filtered through an overhead window.

Kaiba said as he slipped under the covers. “Don’t be surprised if I’m gone before you wake up. I have to be in the office in the morning.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re an important guy with lots of important stuff to do. Just shoot me a text or something?” Jounouchi flashed his teeth and tongue in a terrifyingly jaw-cracking yawn. As he snapped his mouth close, he rolled over and pressed against Kaiba’s shoulder.

Kaiba tensed at the touch. He held his breath for a moment before exhaling purposefully through his nose. Kaiba couldn’t remember the last time he had spent the night at someone else’s home, his brother’s university apartment included. On his next inhale, he took in the musk of Jounouchi’s sweat and the bedroom’s otherwise unnoteworthy smell. It wasn’t bad and didn’t smell like anything in particular—just different from the scent of Kaiba’s own home. Even the ambient noise was different. Jounouchi lived on the third floor, so the street traffic was audible when Kaiba tried to listen for it.

A large hand crept over his stomach before Jounouchi draped his entire arm across. Kaiba exhaled another deep breath and allowed himself to sink into the mattress. Lulled by the warm body beside him and the occasional brushes of Jounouchi’s fingers against his marks (ticklish, security, acceptance), sleep soon claimed him deeply until the sun rose. 

-x-x-x-

As predicted, Kaiba roused first and left his slumbering soulmate in a nest of bed sheets and comforter. When he slipped out of bed, Jounouchi had immediately latched onto the pillow Kaiba abandoned, clutching it to his chest like it was a stuffed animal. Kaiba shook his head, fighting a faint smile, as he backtracked through the apartment for the scattered pieces of yesterday’s outfit. 

His shirt was ruined—soiled with semen, missing buttons, and littered with snagged threads where Jounouchi’s nails had dug into the fabric. His trousers were stained with sweat and lube, but they were in one piece. With an expression of disgust, he binned the shirt and returned to Jounouchi’s bedroom to raid his closet. The first shirt in his size that he came across was a loud Hawaiian-print shirt, magenta red with yellow hibiscus flowers.

“Really?” he asked while casting a judgemental look at his sleeping soulmate.

Jounouchi predictably didn't respond. 

After another minute of searching, Kaiba exchanged the Hawaiian shirt for a baggy t-shirt with a chibi image of an attacking Dark Magician on the front. He quickly slipped it on and pulled on his blazer, doing up all three of its buttons. His winter coat would cover the rest and protect his dignity before he returned to the penthouse and changed.

With one final look at Jounouchi, who hadn’t stirred one bit, Kaiba left the apartment without a word. But he did send Jounouchi a message as soon as he arrived at the office. Even though Jounouchi was bound to still be asleep and wouldn’t see it for hours yet.

Kaiba didn't recheck his phone until well past noon. Jounouchi had responded to his general inquiry with the following:

> _Good, just a little sore. Maybe don’t grip so hard next time?_

A photo waited at the bottom of their conversation. That looked like— 

Kaiba enlarged the image with a jab of his finger and nearly dropped his phone. The shot was taken high on Jounouchi’s waist and angled from one side. The most prominent thing framed in the photo was the vaguely hand-shaped bruise curled around Jounouchi’s side, like brushstrokes of red-purple oil paint bleeding into the canvas of his soulmarks.

A rush of heat flooded Kaiba. His chair creaked as he shifted. He thought of the bite marks and bruises Jounouchi had left along his inner thigh. He was lucky Kaiba hadn’t bitten him in retaliation. But more than sinking his teeth into Jounouchi’s flesh, Kaiba wanted to taste the marks he’d painted on top of Jounouchi’s soulmarks.

Maybe next time.

Would there—could there be a next time?

Atem had been entirely correct about one thing, though. Kaiba's two choices going forward was to either cut Jounouchi out of his life or accept him as his soulmate. 

He composed another message before returning to reviewing a contract. 

> _Are you free to meet up sometime this week?_

The response was almost instant. Kaiba was less than two sentences into his document when his phone chirped. 

> _Sure. I'm not busy. So whenever works for you should be fine. Send me the deets._

-x-x-x-

For their next face-to-face meeting, Kaiba proposed the time, Saturday afternoon, and the location—neutral territory at a coffee shop near the edge of Jounouchi's neighborhood that straddled the downtown area. Situated almost equidistant between Kaiba's penthouse and Jounouchi's apartment, give or take some tenths of a kilometer.

He could take comfort in that kind of mathematical symmetry. 

Kaiba arrived early, tugging the cashmere scarf away from his face when he entered the well-heated establishment. By the time he reached the line, the scarf had joined his gloves in the pocket of his dark woolen coat. The employee behind the counter had stared like she was trying to place his face before shrugging and taking his order—Americano with an extra espresso shot. For a beat, he considered having something ready for Jounouchi when he arrived, but he had no idea how his soulmate took his coffee. Or if he even drank it.

With his cup full of steaming, hot caffeine in hand, he snagged a table toward the back. Other than being next to the restroom, it was relatively isolated. There was a caddy of sugar, creamer packs, and stirring straws sitting on the table, which seemed terribly inefficient on the part of management. One serving of sugar, another of creamer, and he was set until his companion arrived.

What if Jounouchi didn’t show? No, he would. He’d confirmed the appointment over text.

Almost on the dot for their meeting time, Jounouchi stumbled through the shop door, huffing and puffing as if he’d run the whole way. His face glowed a blistering red, even from a distance, made ruddy from the winter chill. Wispy strands of his bleach-blond hair had escaped the confines of his maroon beanie. He was wearing the same green puffer jacket Kaiba had last seen at the drinking party and later dumped on his penthouse floor.

(Actually, he kind of reminded Kaiba of the sad, out-of-season Christmas tree he would have been for mid-January.)

Unconsciously, Kaiba sank in his seat before catching himself. He forced himself to straighten just in time for Jounouchi’s flitting gaze to pick him out of the crowd of mid-day patrons. He sat with his back ramrod straight when Jounouchi bypassed the line to the counter and made his way to the table.

“Hey,” Jounouchi greeted from the opposite side of the table. He hesitated visibly for a second before pulling out the chair and sinking into it. The knit beanie was the first thing to come off, disappearing into one of his jacket pockets.

As Jounouchi unzipped his jacket, Kaiba’s gaze dipped back to his uncovered cup of coffee. “You’re not going to get a drink?”

“Uh… I’m not sure I’m staying long enough for that?” Jounouchi didn’t even bother shedding his jacket.

Kaiba gnashed his teeth before ordering, “Take off your coat and go buy a drink.”

After throwing up both hands in capitulation, Jounouchi wiggled out of his jacket with what might have been a relieved smile. He left it in a crumpled pile on his seat when he slid out and jogged toward the back of the line. While Jounouchi was busy at the register, Kaiba peeked into his briefcase, confirming that he was still carrying the package for the umpteenth time. 

Jounouchi returned with a paper cup of his own, but it was covered, so Kaiba couldn’t tell what he was drinking. Neither did the man reach for any of the condiments in the table caddy. Whatever he had bought, he was drinking it straight.

They each took a sip from their drinks. Jounouchi’s other hand settled on his dog tags and began fidgeting with them. Kaiba took another drink, then followed by Jounouchi. They were an awkward oasis of quiet among the coffee shop’s otherwise bustling business. The silence was excruciating.

Maybe Kaiba hadn’t thought through this meeting enough. No, he had. It was why he’d come prepared with that. Plunging his hand back into his briefcase, he extracted the wrapped package—one that was about the dimension of A2 paper but many centimeters thicker. The wrapping paper was a metallic blue, leftover from what Mokuba had used to wrap his birthday gift last year. Jounouchi’s eyes were immediately drawn to it, but he said nothing and only clenched his drink tighter.

Kaiba placed it on top of the table and slid it across to his soulmate. “For you. An early birthday present if you want to think of it that way.”

Jounouchi’s suspicions seemed to grow with his declaration. “What is it? A restraining order? No, a bomb.”

“Tch,” Kaiba growled and turned his head away. 

Swiftly, Jounouchi relinquished his white-knuckled grip on his cup and pushed it aside in favor of the package. Using more care than Kaiba would have expected from him, Jounouchi peeled the tape back and unwrapped it without tearing the paper. He smoothed the crinkling wrapping flat and stared at what laid inside.

Wide-eyed, Jounouchi whipped his gaze back up to Kaiba’s face. “ _Run, Melos_?” 

Kaiba reached across and nudged the leather-bound copy of _Run, Melos! And Other Stories by Osamu Dazai_ to reveal another book underneath. It was a thin notebook, often sold at stationery stores to students for note-taking. The cover was black and unassuming.

“I told you that they—” His soulmarks, but he couldn’t bring himself to say that out loud in public. “—were a book cipher. I’ve transcribed the characters and left instructions on how to use the story’s text to decipher them.”

Jounouchi’s mouth flapped open and shut several times, only a few strangled sounds leaving his throat. “You— You're giving me homework for my birthday?” he asked incredulously.

Kaiba faltered. When Jounouchi put it that way, it sounded ridiculous, didn’t it? Especially when he could have given Jounouchi the already decoded transcript.

Kaiba's mouth dried as he watched Jounouchi flip open the notebook to lay bare Kaiba’s soul, or at least the transcription of his soulmarks. As Jounouchi trailed a finger down a row of painstakingly copied characters, Kaiba fought a shiver and the memory of that same finger tracing the marks along his skin. He pulled at the high neck of his shirt before forcing himself to drink from his coffee.

Thankfully, Jounouchi soon drew his hand back and shut the notebook. But that didn’t stop him from giving Kaiba a long, measuring look. “You’ll fuck around with me. You’ll even fuck me. But anything else is going to be a trial, even this.” He gestured to the two books.

Kaiba tightened his grip before immediately loosening it when his coffee sloshed dangerously against the rim. He pursed his lips to keep from snapping a comeback that would send Jounouchi storming out of the cafe.

“It’s always going to be one step forward and then two steps back with you. You wanted to know why I kept my mouth shut for so long? It’s because of this. You may not have any respect for me, Kaiba, but I respect myself enough to not put myself through that. I don’t need these mind games. I don’t need you. I’m fine without you.” Though his volume had climbed through his diatribe, heated and trembling, Jounouchi ended his last syllables in almost a whisper.

Kaiba sucked in a sharp breath. "As I'm well aware from your storied dating history."

Jounouchi glared harder. "I'm not apologizing for that. I'm not sorry for living my life."

"That wasn't a dig at you." He unclenched one hand from his cup, flexing it and shaking it to rid it of that pins-and-needles feeling. “I was merely stating the facts. It was never a question of need, Jounouchi, for either of us. I have been fine on my own.”

But “want” was something far more dangerous.

His soulmate stared at him for several long beats. “Fine, lemme ask you another question then. Why me? Why now? You said it yourself. You never had any interest in soulmates or people for that matter.”

“That’s two questions,” Kaiba corrected and received a pointedly unimpressed look. Both were fair questions, and both were ones that Kaiba had contemplated at length as he prepared the books. “You’re right. I don’t put much stock in the idea of soulmates, any more than I do for destiny. I am my own man. I make my own decisions regardless of what arbitrary skin pigmentations might say. How long have we known each other, Jounouchi? Don’t you know me well enough at this point to understand what does and doesn’t hold sway on my reasoning?”

Jounouchi broke eye contact first and chewed on his bottom lip. “I’d get hella fewer headaches if I did. Kaiba, you’re the most confusing and infuriating person I’ve ever met.”

“And yet, you’re here. We both are. We’ve each made choices over our long acquaintance that have led us to this stage. How we proceed going forward will be dictated by the same, by whatever decisions we make. No matter how these marks might claim to characterize our—our relationship is secondary to whatever we decide for ourselves.” 

Though Kaiba had coached his words carefully, his skin prickled. Saying "we" and "us" was still admitting his personal culpability in the matter. Owning his share of the responsibility for their current state, all the good and the bad. Months of messaging and calls and private hangouts and social gatherings bridged the chasm that they’d each always believed to exist between them. Kaiba had his chance—multiple chances to sever that connection. To cut and undo the slipknot in their so-called destinies. 

He hadn't because he didn't want to. 

Jounouchi leaned forward, his forearm braced across the table as he met Kaiba’s gaze in a challenge. “Yeah, and what kinda relationship is that?”

“I’m not sure,” he answered truthfully but was quick to add when Jounouchi’s face fell. “Yet. Neither of us seems willing to walk away from each other, so why not explore the realm of possibilities? But whatever we settle on, I believe it may be well worth the effort. I want you to remain in my life. I want to be a part of yours.”

They never hurt the other when they touched each other’s marks. That counted for more than Kaiba could have hoped for with a soulmate. Intention led to actions, which led to results. He would have to trust in that chain of cause-and-effect. 

Jounouchi gaped for several beats. Then he quickly turned his head away, but not fast enough to hide his hesitant grin or the faint flush on his cheeks. “I'd like that too, Kaiba. Even if you do drive me up the walls sometimes. But it's not as if I don't know what I'm potentially in for. And it’s like I’ve been completely fair to you either.”

“Perhaps, but your behavior wasn’t completely unwarranted. I haven’t always been kind to you,” he admitted and was surprised to find that he breathed a little easier after the fact. “But this is good?”

Jounouchi huffed with laughter, swiveling his head forward again to blind Kaiba with his smile and eyes. “Yeah, I’d say so. So if we’re ever going to figure 'us' out, we should do this”—he gestured between them—"Again soon. Like next Saturday. You can even check my homework.” Another stream of chuckles tumbled from his mouth when he tapped the notebook meaningfully.

Despite himself, the corner of Kaiba’s lips tugged upward. “What about your birthday? It’s in three days.”

“Well, I don’t have any plans, so sure,” Jounouchi agreed readily with a small shrug. 

Dumbly, Kaiba nodded. He hadn’t expected Jounouchi to be free or agree so readily. “I’ll let you know the time and place.”

A smirk spread across Jounouchi’s lip, then quickly hidden behind his beverage cup. “Good, cuz you’re paying since it’s my birthday and all. And cuz you can afford it.”

Kaiba nodded again. It was hard to argue with that logic. “It’s, um, a date then.”

He was pushing his luck, but Kaiba always believed in making his own. 

Eyes twinkling, Jounouchi took a placid sip of his drink. “Maybe. Depends on if I invite you in at the end of the night.”


	5. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 意志疎通 （いしそつう） [ishisotsuu]  
> (n) mutual understanding; reciprocal communication

Dinner went well. Surprisingly well.

It took Kaiba some time and research, but he eventually settled on a restaurant that walked the line between extravagant and comfortable, someplace that didn’t immediately scream “romantic” or “date.”

They ate, they talked, and they drank. Not enough to get either of them drunk. They were both careful to avoid that. At the end of the meal, Kaiba paid as promised. Although they had met up at the restaurant, Kaiba had offered his soulmate a ride home, which he accepted. 

Now they were standing outside Jounouchi's apartment, and the tense undercurrent that had been present in the background all through dinner moved into the foreground. When Jounouchi turned to unlock his front door, Kaiba stared at his back, thinking of the soulmarks hidden under layers of clothing. 

As the door fell ajar under its own weight, Jounouchi gripped the doorframe and turned back toward Kaiba. A small and hesitant smile adorned his lips. "Thanks for dinner, Kaiba."

Kaiba nodded. "Happy birthday, Jounouchi."

If this was a date, this might be where Kaiba leaned in for a kiss or where Jounouchi invited him inside. They did neither of those things, though. 

He dipped a hand into his coat pocket, his fingers grazed the corner of a small gift. Part of him thought he should bid his soulmate a good night and leave, maybe bin the present before going home. Kaiba certainly had no use for it. Deciding that it would be worth an indignant message later, he tossed it to his soulmate. Jounouchi caught it after it bounced off his chest. 

"Don't open it until after I'm gone," he ordered, half-turning to make his exit. 

But Jounouchi was already ripping into the gift. A morbid curiosity stayed Kaiba's steps. Despite the heat creeping up the back of his neck, he maintained a neutral expression when Jounouchi tore off the wrapping in one swift motion. 

"You arrogant ass!" Jounouchi exclaimed before shoving the small box of condoms in Kaiba's face. "That sure you were gonna get a repeat performance tonight, huh?"

"I told you to open it after I left," protested Kaiba. He felt himself losing the battle with his growing flush. "I wasn't assuming anything other than you need protection if you're going to bed partners you're not in a long-term relationsh—" 

Using one hand, Jounouchi grabbed his elbow and hauled him into the apartment. Kaiba's back hit the inside of the door. The impact slammed it shut with a thump. It took Kaiba several seconds to adjust to the dim interior, precious seconds to try and reassemble his composure against the warm body pressed against his front. 

“Lemme spell it out for you, Kaiba, since that’s what you apparently need. I didn’t have condoms last time because I haven’t been with anyone in months. Those things do expire, y’know. During that time, there was only one person—one guy I was really interested in, and I didn’t think he’d be interested.” Jounouchi watched him avidly with dark eyes as he spoke.

Boldly, Kaiba settled a hand on his soulmate’s waist, curling his palm around and cradling the sensual jut of his hip hidden under the well-fitted pair of khaki pants he’d worn to dinner. Jounouchi couldn’t help but shudder when he rubbed his thumb over the sharp hip bone. “Do you still think he’s uninterested?”

Kaiba’s breath hitched as Jounouchi canted forward and nipped at the place where his neck met his jawline. 

“You tell me, Kaiba. I’m no mind reader,” whispered Jounouchi.

He tightened his grip and threaded his other hand into Jounouchi’s styled hair, mussing it until it regained that handsomely disheveled look Kaiba was used to. Then he tilted his soulmate’s head back and forced them to lock eyes as he said, “I told you I wanted you. That hasn’t changed. I’m not someone that changes his mind easily, Jounouchi.”

“Okay. Good.”

Jounouchi didn't give him another chance. The condom box's sharp corners dug into Kaiba's collar as Jounouchi struck, gripping his neck to guide their mouths into meeting. Jounouchi's moist lips and lithe tongue became all he could focus on for the next several moments. Before long, their hips started rocking as they rubbed their growing arousals against one another. Growling against Jounouchi's soft lips, Kaiba reached around and grabbed his soulmate's ass and aligned their bodies until they made direct groin-to-groin contact. 

Jounouchi tore his head away to let loose a filthy moan that made Kaiba knead his ass harder. "Damn right, happy birthday to me," he purred, armed with a hungry, half-lidded gaze. "You gonna let me unwrap the rest of this present then?" 

The box tapped against Kaiba's jugular. Its contents rattled faintly inside the cardboard. That was quickly overshadowed by the hand Jounouchi snaked between their bodies to cup his erection. 

"Bedroom," gasped Kaiba, unable to stop from bucking into his soulmate's palm.

Softly humming the birthday song under his breath, each note carrying hints of laughter and seduction, Jounouchi took his hand and led them deeper into the apartment. Guess this made tonight a date after all.

**Author's Note:**

> [If you enjoyed this fic and want to share it on tumblr, please consider reblogging this link. <3](https://alectoperdita.tumblr.com/post/640039752280768512/a-fools-puzzle-%E5%90%88%E7%B8%81%E5%A5%87%E7%B8%81-roughly-86-of-the)


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